North Korea - Health Care
North Korea is a 'museum of infectious diseases' - typhoid fever, paratyphoid fever, cholera, measles - there is no infectious disease that does not exist in the north. It can be said that in the north, where the maintenance of the system is important, even the disclosure of information to the surrounding residents, which is the basis of measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, was prohibited by the authorities. Furthermore, North Korea had equipment that could make accurate diagnoses. But many diseases were established as regional diseases everywhere.
Normally, it has been reported by international organizations and international community that communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, and childhood malnutrition are the major health problems of North Korea, and reports so far have also pointed out the complete inability of the North Korean health care system to treat or control the nation's health problems. The North Korean government states that the North Korean socialist health care system is still operating well. In the 1980s, North Korea established a socialist health care system. However, following the food crisis and the economic sanctions, it is estimated that North Korea's health care system has experienced continuous deterioration. Since 2000, with the aid of many United Nations agencies, such as the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Food Program as well as the South Korean government and international nongovernmental organizations, the economic situation in North Korea has improved and, as a result, the health level of North Koreans has recovered to the level it was at prior to the famine period of the 1990s.
However, the health level of North Koreans that had been recovering has subsequently been showing deterioration again since 2006. In response to the nuclear provocative acts of the North Korean government that began in 2006, UN and the United States government imposed economic sanctions. These economic sanctions have resulted in a shortage of essential goods, and as a result the health of North Koreans has been threatened.
In socialist North Korea, the idea of ??the insurance medical system is "free medical care". As the name suggests, people are free to go to the hospital. However, proper diagnosis and treatment are not available. In addition to the aging medical equipment, even the development of infrastructure such as water and electricity have not caught up, and essential medicines are not in the hospital. The medicine that comes in from the international community for the purpose of humanitarian support Even, it is sold to the market through the back route.
Medicines that should be distributed to the general public are being used as tools for making money. Residents buy their own medicine and go to the hospital. In addition, if people do not prepare items that are not directly related to treatment, such as gauze and rubbing alcohol, fuel for warming the operating room, and meals of medical staff involved in treatment, these will be provided at the hospital. It is common that no treatment is available. Many people who have no financial resources and are full of their daily lives die without receiving medical treatment. Despite always advocating the perfection of socialism, what it does is capitalism itself.
The cause of this collapse of medical care is the deterioration of economic conditions and food shortages. Since the 1970s, North Korea's major trading partners have been the former Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe, but when the former Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the external route was cut off and medical facilities and medicines were fully available. Furthermore, the great flood in 1995 added to the impact. It was hit by a great famine, which is said to have killed up to 3 million people, and North Korea calls this period the "arduous march."
According to North Korean defectors who were in North Korea at the time, doctors who were having trouble living due to reduced salaries began to open clinics at home and provide personal medical care. Residents who cannot afford it have no choice but to rely on treatment by people who do not have medical qualifications, and as a result of receiving treatment using Chinese medicine and trying to cure illness and injury with folk remedies passed down from generation to generation. It is said that there were many cases of death.
North Korea has never revealed information on infected people over infectious diseases. The reason is In addition to maintaining an external image, there is also the aspect of trying to conceal the spread of the disease from the residents and seek internal cohesion. The latest equipment will be installed and utilized only in Pyongyang. It is easy to imagine that no equipment is available in rural areas.
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