Eight Daegu-Gyeongbuk Health and Welfare Groups Urge Immediate Repeal of TK Administrative Integration Special Act... "Medical Privatization Special Provisions Threaten Right to Life"

The Daegu-Gyeongbuk Health and Welfare Organizations Solidarity Conference, consisting of eight groups including Uri Bokji Simin Yeonhap and the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Association of Physicians for Humanitarian Practice, urged the immediate repeal of the special act on administrative integration of the TK region.

On the morning of the 24th at 11:00 a.m., the Solidarity Conference will hold a press conference at the Dongin Building of Daegu City Hall in Jung District, Daegu. There, it plans to warn of the dangers of the hidden provision allowing for-profit hospitals in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integration Special Act currently being pushed forward in the National Assembly, and to demand the immediate repeal of the integration special act, which it says threatens Daegu citizens' right to life and right to health.

Our Welfare Citizens' Union

On that day, the Daegu-Gyeongbuk Health and Welfare Organizations Solidarity Conference will state, "If this bill passes, it will not bring about balanced regional development, but rather cause 'medical polarization,' further endangering the lives of local residents and potentially becoming a disaster that destroys the universal treatment system of national health insurance," and will urge the authorities "to stop the attempt to expand for-profit hospitals in a roundabout way under the name of a Global Future Special Zone."

The Solidarity Conference said, "The Daegu-Gyeongbuk Integration Special Act is a matter that has a profound impact on residents' lives, yet the government and the Democratic Party of Korea are pushing it through in a speed battle. This hasty integration, carried out without seeking the consent of city and provincial residents, and the special provisions on medical privatization hidden within it, constitute a direct challenge to democracy and are evil clauses that threaten local residents' right to life."

The Solidarity Conference also said, "The lives and safety of city and provincial residents are not subjects for experimentation. We call on the government and the National Assembly to discard the absurd logic of 'integration first, consent later' advocated by preliminary integration candidates, to abandon development-centered rosy illusions, and to confess the true nature of medical commercialization before the residents of the city and province." It added, "On the one hand, they talk about strengthening regional healthcare and public healthcare, but on the other hand, under the pretext of integration, they are trying to open Pandora's box of medical privatization, which will seriously threaten the lives and safety of city and provincial residents. We denounce all political forces that seek to promote medical privatization."