"Following Yoon Suk Yeol's flawed medical school policy is stoking conflict"
The Progressive Party's Suncheon City Committee said Tuesday that the government should establish tertiary university hospitals with at least 1,000 beds each at Suncheon National University and Mokpo National University.
At a press conference that day, the committee said establishing medical schools and university hospitals at both institutions is "the minimum state obligation to guarantee the right to health and the right to life for all residents of the province." It added that authorities can no longer ignore the reality forcing patients with serious illnesses to travel to Greater Seoul or Gwangju for treatment.
The party urged the Democratic Party and the current Lee Jae Myung administration to stop mindlessly pushing ahead with the previous Yoon Suk Yeol government's policy of merging universities to create a single medical school. It called on the government to establish separate medical schools and tertiary hospitals at both universities, describing the move as a long-cherished goal of South Jeolla Province residents that a government of popular sovereignty should fulfill.
The party also urged Gwangju Special City Mayor Min Hyeong-bae to stop pressuring parties toward an agreement timeline beyond his authority and instead focus on his responsibility to deliver on the region's long-standing priorities. It noted that residents have spent tens of trillions of won traveling elsewhere for medical care. The party also pointed out that while Min had suggested the 20 trillion won ($13.6 billion) allocated to the integrated special city could be used for semiconductor infrastructure, the budget needed for two medical schools and university hospitals would require only between 1.3 trillion won and 2 trillion won of that total.
The party renewed its call for a bold decision from the Lee Jae Myung government.
Lee Seong-su, the Progressive Party's South Jeolla Province chapter chairman, urged the government to establish medical schools and tertiary hospitals at both universities, saying it befits a government of popular sovereignty. He warned that the Democratic Party and the current administration are stoking unprecedented conflict between the eastern and western parts of South Jeolla Province, and stressed that overcoming the capital-centric system and achieving balanced national development can only be realized by doing what may seem impossible.
parkds@heraldcorp.com
