Should I get surgery by a North Korean doctor? ① [Walking with reporter Ahn Jung-sik in Pyongyang]

In August 2016, a man who defected while working as a doctor in North Korea crashed and died while cleaning windows in a building in Incheon.

It is known that the man had fled North Korea to treat his wife's illness, and then worked at a construction site to provide medical expenses and living expenses.

The reality that the most representative professional intent failed to find a relevant job in South Korea and died while struggling to work and clean up, raises the challenge of how our society should accommodate North Koreans after unification.

This is because, if even those who were engaged in North Korean professional occupations cannot establish a position in a unified Korea, such unification may approach the North Korean people as a disaster, not a hope.

who was not recognized as a doctor in North Korea The reason a man who died in an accident in 2016 had to work and clean a construction site was because South Korea was not recognized as a doctor in North Korea.

It is difficult for South Korean society to qualify this man as a doctor, given that he studied medical school in North Korea, but the North Korean doctor training process and the South Korean doctor training process are different.

North Korean defectors' qualifications for doctors in North Korea are not recognized in South Korea unless they obtain a new medical qualification in accordance with the South Korean system.

However, after unification, there are parts that cannot be briefly talked about.

There are a few North Korean defectors who had been doctors now, but there will be many doctors in the North Korean region after unification, and disapproving of their medical qualifications can cause a big problem.

North Korean medical workers, first, let's look at how well the North Korean medical workers are.

North Korean doctors also studied to become doctors at a six-year medical school, and even after graduating from medical school, they are believed to have considerable skills, such as studying for water supply tests as well as receiving retraining.

However, the lack of medicines and poor equipment would have made it difficult to acquire experience in highly specialized patient care.

As an indicator of the ability of North Korean doctors, let's look at the cases of North Korean medical workers who defected and incorporated into the South Korean medical system.

As of 2015, out of 44 North Korean refugee medical workers, 18 passed the South Korean National Medical Examination.

According to the results of research conducted by South Korean medical professionals who have educated North Korean refugee medical personnel, North Korean medical personnel lack the experience of using medical equipment, so their ability to read X-rays, ultrasound, and tomography is poor.

He has a basic understanding of the disease, but he has little experience in prescribing and familiarizing himself with it, and it is said that there are areas that lack practice, such as arterial blood tests and tracheal intubation.

In addition, it is said that there is a lack of understanding of aseptic technique in wound treatment, and there were fields that were first encountered in South Korea, such as electrocardiography and hematologic oncology.

In addition, since many medical terms are used in English in South Korea, they are said to have difficulty understanding terms.

On the other hand, when looking at the results of a study of North Korean defectors' adaptation to South Korea from the perspective of North Korean refugees, it is mentioned that learning how to use medical devices and equipment was unfamiliar at first, but that North Korean medical school education was not inferior to South Korea.

However, it is suggested that it is necessary to distinguish them from other doctors because the skills of those who become doctors through correspondence education or special education are relatively insufficient.

(In North Korea, people working in the health sector attend college twice a year for about 40 to 50 days and receive related education, and then a paramedic or nurse is promoted to a doctor. There is also a special curriculum that completes the university curriculum in 3 years.)

Overall, it seems that the proficiency of North Korean medical workers is not significantly lower than that of South Korean medical personnel.

However, the level of difference is revealed by the difference in skill level due to the lack of access to the latest medical knowledge and medical equipment due to the deteriorating economic situation and international isolation, and the inability to perform surgery at all times due to lack of medicines and facilities. Seems to be.

you recognize the qualifications of North Korean doctors If so, is it correct to recognize the qualifications of North Korean doctors after unification?

When recognizing the qualifications of North Korean doctors, the biggest question is whether South Koreans will seek medical attention from North Korean doctors.

Even in the existing South Korean society, when a major illness occurs, the reality is that they seek better hospitals and larger hospitals to receive treatment and treatment from a famous doctor.If a North Korean doctor is in charge of treatment, South Koreans will consult this doctor for treatment or surgery. Is whether you want to receive

Perhaps South Koreans will not go to hospitals run by doctors from North Korea, and it is highly likely that general hospitals will not seek treatment from doctors from North Korea, depending on whether the doctor in charge is from South Korea or North Korea.

Trust between doctors and patients is important for proper treatment, but it is difficult to build trust between doctors from North Korea and South Koreans.

The question of whether South Korean doctors will recognize North Korean doctors as doctors of the same level may arise among doctor groups.

That said, if you don't recognize the qualifications of North Korean doctors, another problem arises.

This is because the medical system in North Korea will fall into a vacuum.

Based on OECD data that the number of doctors in North Korea is 3.3 per 1,000 as of 2003, it is estimated that the total number of doctors in North Korea is over 80,000. If their qualifications are suspended at once, there is no manpower to replace them.

Not only is it impossible for South Korean doctors to replace them at once, and medical activities are not just dispatched by people, but facilities and equipment, etc., in North Korea where there are no medical facilities and equipment, so South Korean doctors can do proper medical activities. It can't be done.

If there is a problem with acknowledging or not acknowledging the qualifications of North Korean doctors, what method should we find?

We will discuss this in the next post.    

(Photo = Captured by Chosun Joongang TV, Yonhap News)