Changwon Business Community Actively Supports the Establishment of Changwon Medical School

Strengthening Commitment at the Gyeongnam Economic Forum

On the 13th, the business community in Changwon, Gyeongnam, held the Gyeongnam Economic Forum and reaffirmed their commitment to the establishment of a medical school in Changwon, actively supporting the initiative.

The business community in the Changwon area has strengthened its resolution to establish a medical school in Changwon at the Gyeongnam Economic Forum and has actively expressed its support.

Local businesspeople recognize Changwon as the central city of the Southeast industrial belt, where the demand for 'industrial health medical services' is very high. However, there is no institution specializing in training medical personnel to handle industrial accidents, which has raised great expectations for the establishment of a medical school. They believe that establishing a medical school in Changwon is essential to build an emergency medical system for responding to urgent accidents.

Changwon Special City is jointly cooperating with Gyeongnam Province to address the shortage of medical personnel and medical service inequality within the province by urging the establishment of a medical school in the Changwon area. In March of this year, the Changwon Medical School Citizen Promotion Committee was launched, and the campaign to collect one million signatures from one million citizens has surpassed its goal of 300,000. The hopes of local residents demanding the establishment of a medical school are growing.

There is only one medical school in the Gyeongnam region with a quota of 76 students, which is far below the national average of 5.9 per 100,000 people, standing at 2.3 per 100,000. The number of doctors per 1,000 people is also insufficient, with the national average at 2.13, Gyeongnam at 1.17, and Seoul at 3.37.

The shortage of medical personnel leads to unequal medical services and regional medical disparities. Among the 18 cities and counties in Gyeongnam, 14 have been designated as emergency medical vulnerable areas. The rate of unmet medical needs is among the top nationwide, and the medical utilization rate of Gyeongnam residents is among the lowest in the country.

Accordingly, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry plans to actively pursue the role of the economic sector in establishing a medical school in Changwon by gathering diverse opinions from various sectors of the community.

Gu Jacheon, chairman of the Changwon Chamber of Commerce and Industry and co-chairman of the Changwon Medical School Citizen Promotion Committee, said, “For the past 30 years, our business community has worked with Changwon City to establish a medical school. We must seize this opportunity that has come after 30 years.” He added, “For the safety of workers in the million-strong metropolitan industrial area and for balanced regional development, the economic sector will unite to support the establishment of a medical school in Changwon.”

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