Customized Public Healthcare Project for Students with Multiple and Severe Disabilities... Seoul Children's Hospital and Narae School Sign MOU

Teachers and Parents in Educational Settings Provide Specialized Care Considering Children's Unique Needs, Medical Professionals Offer Consultation and Training

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital announced on the 5th that it will launch the ‘Seoul-type Medical-Education Cooperation Project,’ a customized public medical service for students with moderate and multiple disabilities at the special school for physical disabilities, ‘Seoul Narae School.’ Accordingly, Seoul City will sign a business agreement at the Children's Hospital in the afternoon of the same day.

Students with ‘moderate and multiple disabilities,’ who have severe disabilities and two or more disabilities such as physical disabilities and cerebral palsy, experience different difficulties in school life depending on the type of disability. Although there is a consensus that health management is necessary to guarantee both the right to learn and the right to health for students in the educational field, there have been challenges in providing professional care.

The ‘Seoul-type Medical-Education Cooperation Project’ is a program where medical staff from Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital directly visit schools to provide consultation and education on health management, enabling teachers and parents who care for students with moderate and multiple disabilities to understand the special characteristics of disabled children and offer more professional care. It provides expert guidance on symptoms and characteristics by disability type and age group, such as how to adjust posture in specific areas when a child spills food due to physical discomfort, what kinds of food to feed, and what assistance is needed to prevent posture deformation during school life.

Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital aims to combine medical capabilities with the educational field to guarantee the health rights and learning rights of students with moderate and multiple disabilities. It also intends to support preventing medical disparities in the fields of ‘disability, children, and rehabilitation,’ which the government has designated as essential medical services.

Following the pilot project conducted at the end of last year, which received great support from faculty and staff, Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital and Seoul Narae School plan to convert and expand the project into a regular program starting this month, reflecting improvements. In July, they will visit the school education site to check the school life of students from kindergarten to specialized courses and develop customized educational programs according to life cycles. From August until the end of this year, various educational training programs will be provided to faculty, staff, and parents based on this program.

Choi Jin-sook, director of Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital, said, “By combining medical care and education, we will build a community children's health safety net that protects the learning and health rights of children and adolescents with disabilities and strive to strengthen the guarantee of essential medical services.” She added, “Through this agreement, Seoul Metropolitan Children's Hospital will do its best to become the health Avengers for students with moderate and multiple disabilities.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.