Mokpo National University Urges Establishment of National Medical Schools with Jeonnam and Gyeongbuk Provinces

Recommendation to Reflect the Establishment of National Medical Schools in Jeonnam and Gyeongbuk When Expanding Medical School Quotas

On the 6th, Mokpo National University (President Song Ha-cheol) announced that on the 4th, it issued a joint government petition at the National Assembly Communication Hall urging the establishment of national medical schools in Jeonnam and Gyeongbuk, the regions most vulnerable to medical care.

Song Hacheol, President of Mokpo National University, is announcing a joint government petition urging the establishment of national medical schools in Jeonnam and Gyeongbuk.
[Photo by Mokpo National University]

At the announcement of the joint government petition, Jeonnam Governor Kim Young-rok, Gyeongbuk Governor Lee Cheol-woo, Mokpo National University President Song Ha-cheol, Andong National University President Jeong Tae-ju, and Park Byung-hee, head of the Medical School Establishment Promotion Team at Suncheon National University, gathered to agree on joint efforts to improve the poor medical environment and secure insufficient medical resources in Jeonnam and Gyeongbuk.

The joint petition urges the government to establish national medical schools to serve as the regional public medical command centers and strongly demands the creation of new national medical schools in Jeonnam and Gyeongbuk, the regions most vulnerable to medical care, when expanding medical school quotas in the future.

Jeonnam and Gyeongbuk have many island and mountainous areas, making medical accessibility very vulnerable. Essential medical fields such as surgery, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology are rapidly disappearing, causing local children and mothers to miss timely treatment and forcing them to travel to other regions or the metropolitan area for medical care, which is a regrettable situation.

Additionally, as these regions enter a super-aged society with the highest proportion of elderly population aged 65 and over nationwide, the medical gap with the metropolitan area is worsening day by day, facing several serious medical issues.

On the other hand, the number of doctors per 1,000 people is below the national average of 2.1, with Jeonnam at 1.7 and Gyeongbuk at 1.4. In critical emergency fields where golden time is crucial, such as stroke and myocardial infarction, the number of specialists and the establishment rate of standards are all below average.

President Song Ha-cheol of Mokpo National University emphasized, “Expanding existing medical school quotas alone can never improve the poor medical environment in the regions,” and added, “We will do our best to establish national medical schools in medically vulnerable areas.”

Meanwhile, five national universities including Mokpo National University, Suncheon National University, Andong National University, Changwon National University, and Kongju National University jointly held a National Assembly forum in July at the National Assembly Library Auditorium to urge the expansion of public medical personnel and the establishment of national medical schools. They adopted a petition and submitted it to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, continuously striving for the establishment of new medical schools.

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