More North Korean Party cadres are visiting
China to receive treatment for post-surgery effects from illnesses such as
cancer, and in some cases, reportedly seeking out South Korean doctors
practicing in China, creating ever-evolving ways of effectively evading
surveillance from back home.
“Recently, more North Korean Party cadres
and their wives are coming to China for follow-up treatment for cancer after
receiving surgery in Pyongyang,” a source based in
China told Daily NK on Wednesday.
“Party cadres with power and money receive
permission from the state to visit China and recuperate. However, although may
call it recuperation, sometimes it’s actually to
receive additional or separate treatments for other conditions.”
He explained that Party cadres and other
elites, afforded the opportunity to receive a relatively steady stream of news
about advanced treatments outside of the country, do everything in their power
to try to find South Korean physicians in China, despite the fact that it could
become extremely problematic. Underscoring the confidence in– and preference for–South
Korean doctors to perform these procedures stems from the ubiquity of dramas
and other media content from the South circulating among these privileged
circles.
In North Korea, one of the welfare policies
most heavily promoted by the state is its “free health
care system,” but according to a source within the
country, the reality is much different. The shortage in medicine, surgical
tools, and medical equipment is severe, and even when they are available,
individuals are obliged to buy from the marketplace or procure them by bribing
doctors.
Pyongyang fares significantly better than
provincial areas, and high-ranking officials, largely residing in the capital
and other major cities, benefit from not only the medical resources, but
consistent food rations and other perks, furthering the disparity between
ordinary residents and the affluent classes.
Still, while Pyongyang is equipped to some
extent with the medical equipment necessary for basic cancer treatments and
other difficult surgeries, the overall medical facilities are old and decrepit;
these factors, combined with poor training, have led to complications resulting
in death, such as patients bleeding out after surgery–cases which the source
in China cited as catalysts for these elites to head abroad for medical care.
He explained that there are two avenues
available to South Korean doctors wishing to practice in Chinese hospitals.
First, there are charity hospitals that are established by Christian groups
from the United States in collaboration with China. In this case, the
facilities are run by South Koreans or foreigners with Korean heritage.
The second route involves hospitals in
large cities, such as Beijing or Shanghai, which invite doctors from the South.
In this scenario, the hospitals widely advertise the fact that medical staff
from the South is present, explaining how scores of North Korean Party cadres
end up receiving medical care there. Party cadres, not particularly beset with
fiscal concerns, avoid charity hospitals that are relatively cheap and go to
large hospitals with good reputations in big cities,”
he said.
When high-ranking officials exhibit misgivings about their ability to receive
adequate care from the North’s medical system, the
source within North Korea asserted the development to be just another example
of a disillusioned population, knowing it can no longer rely on the state for
help, determined to resort to alternative methods to see their needs fulfilled.
