Mokpo National University President Song Ha-cheol Submits Proposal for Medical School Establishment to Ministry of Health and Welfare

Urgent Call for the Establishment of Regional National University Medical Schools and Affiliated University Hospitals

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Seo Young-seo] On the 20th, Song Ha-cheol, President of National Mokpo University, met with the presidents of five national universities including National Kongju University, National Suncheon University, National Andong University, and National Changwon University, as well as Minister Cho Kyu-hong of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, to deliver a joint petition urging the ‘establishment of regional national university medical schools and affiliated university hospitals’ and explained the necessity of establishing a medical school in Jeollanam-do.

(The second from the left) Song Ha-cheol, President of Mokpo National University, met with the Minister of Health and Welfare to deliver a joint petition urging the establishment of regional national university medical schools and affiliated university hospitals.
[Photo by Mokpo National University]

According to Mokpo University on the 21st, the joint petition was adopted at the ‘Joint Forum on the Establishment of Regional National University Medical Schools to Expand Regional Public Medical Personnel’ held on the 19th of last month by five national universities including National Mokpo University. It contains demands for △ allocation of medical school quotas necessary for the establishment of regional national university medical schools △ establishment of a regional public medical personnel development system △ national support for the establishment of regional national university medical schools and affiliated university hospitals.

The presidents of the five universities emphasized again during their meeting with Minister Cho Kyu-hong of the Ministry of Health and Welfare that “due to the concentration of the medical system in the metropolitan area, medical gaps have occurred in regions such as Jeonnam, Chungnam, Gyeongbuk, and Gyeongnam, causing local residents to be deprived of the basic level of medical services they rightfully deserve as citizens.” They stressed that “medical schools should be established at each national university located in these regions, and public medical personnel who can settle in the region and grow together based on the established medical schools should be nurtured.”

Meanwhile, the five universities including National Mokpo University plan to continue close consultations and carry out various attraction activities for the establishment of medical schools in order to fulfill the responsibility of national universities to improve the quality of life of local residents following the delivery of this joint petition.