“Mandatory Establishment of Medical School in Changwon ... Launch of Pan-Citizen Promotion Committee”

Changwon Special City, Over 1,000 Citizens and Social Groups Gather on the 13th

United in Hope to Attract Medical School

Civic and social organizations are coming together to attract a medical school to Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam.

As Changwon Special City focuses its administrative efforts on attracting a medical school, the launch ceremony of the “Changwon Medical School Attraction Pan-Citizen Promotion Committee” to build public consensus and unite aspirations will be held at 2 p.m. on the 13th at the Changwon Convention Center.

Changwon Special City Hall, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

About 1,000 people, including local members of the National Assembly, provincial and city councilors, representatives from the business, medical, and education sectors, as well as civic and social organizations, are expected to attend the launch ceremony. The event will include ▲a progress report on the activities to attract the Changwon medical school so far ▲congratulatory speeches and messages from key figures ▲a collective reading of a resolution by all attendees ▲adoption of a government petition and a one million signature campaign.

In particular, the resolution and petition will include the attendees’ pledge to “do their utmost to achieve the long-cherished aspiration of Changwon medical school attraction, a 30-year-old citizen’s wish since 1992 that must be fulfilled,” along with demands to the government.

The ceremony will conclude with a hopeful paper airplane flying event, wishing for the successful attraction of the Changwon medical school by the attendees.

Currently, the medical indicators of Changwon City and Gyeongnam Province rank among the lowest nationwide. While the national average of medical school quotas per 100,000 people is 5.9, Gyeongnam’s figure is only 2.3, and the number of emergency medicine specialists is 2.1, about half of the national average of 4.5.

Accordingly, 14 out of 18 regions in Gyeongnam are classified as emergency medical vulnerable areas. The number of doctors working in medical institutions per 1,000 people in Gyeongnam is 2.5, which is below the national average of 3.1.

Moreover, outstanding students in Changwon who wish to enter medical schools have no choice but to go to other regions, causing a brain drain, and the population moving from Changwon to the Seoul metropolitan area for work and education purposes continues to increase.

Mayor Hong Nampyo said, “Through all-around cooperation with the political, economic, medical, educational sectors, and civic and social organizations, we will realize citizens’ right to health as well as the right to be educated in excellent facilities,” adding, “Establishing a medical school in Changwon is an urgent task that can no longer be delayed, and we will definitely establish a new medical school with a quota of 100 students.”

Earlier, Mayor Hong declared at the New Year press conference that “to equip Changwon with the dignity befitting its status, we will begin full-scale efforts to attract a medical school starting this year.”

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