{"id":41703,"date":"2019-08-09T12:25:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T03:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=41703"},"modified":"2020-01-17T09:21:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T00:21:20","slug":"provincial-hospitals-in-north-korea-suffering-under-unsanitary-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/provincial-hospitals-in-north-korea-suffering-under-unsanitary-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Provincial hospitals in North Korea suffering under unsanitary conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_41705\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-41705\" style=\"width: 637px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-41705 \" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/\u1105\u1172\u1100\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u1161\u11ab\u1100\u116a\u110c\u1169\u11bc\u1112\u1161\u11b8\u1107\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u116f\u11ab.jpg\" alt=\"Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital\" width=\"637\" height=\"421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/\u1105\u1172\u1100\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u1161\u11ab\u1100\u116a\u110c\u1169\u11bc\u1112\u1161\u11b8\u1107\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u116f\u11ab.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/\u1105\u1172\u1100\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u1161\u11ab\u1100\u116a\u110c\u1169\u11bc\u1112\u1161\u11b8\u1107\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u116f\u11ab-300x198.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/\u1105\u1172\u1100\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u1161\u11ab\u1100\u116a\u110c\u1169\u11bc\u1112\u1161\u11b8\u1107\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u116f\u11ab-768x508.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/\u1105\u1172\u1100\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u1161\u11ab\u1100\u116a\u110c\u1169\u11bc\u1112\u1161\u11b8\u1107\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u116f\u11ab-696x460.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/\u1105\u1172\u1100\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u1161\u11ab\u1100\u116a\u110c\u1169\u11bc\u1112\u1161\u11b8\u1107\u1167\u11bc\u110b\u116f\u11ab-635x420.jpg 635w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 637px) 100vw, 637px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-41705\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital. Image: DPRK Today<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea has made some effort to modernize its medical infrastructure by expanding specialized facilities such as the Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital and introducing a \u201clong-distance medical system,\u201d similar to a remote medical service.<\/p>\n<p>Daily NK sources in the country say, however, that most of the country\u2019s provincial hospitals are dilapidated and that the regime\u2019s efforts to modernize its medical infrastructure are nothing more than superficial and limited to Pyongyang and other major cities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGeneral hospitals located in regional areas suffer from poor conditions even though they are state-run,\u201d said a North Hwanghae Province-based source. \u201cFrom the outside they look clean, but they are humid and dark inside. Patients end up getting even sicker there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patients are also susceptible to various infectious diseases during their stays. Many North Koreans prefer to purchase drugs from local markets and self-medicate, or head to private (and likely unlicensed) doctors for a diagnosis, rather than go to local hospitals for treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Local markets sell aspirin, painkillers, blood pressure medicine and cold\/flu medicine. Most of the drugs sold at local markets are smuggled in from China or manufactured by private citizens in North Korea and are thus not officially sanctioned by the North Korean government. Consumers of these medicines can experience unexpected side-effects as a result. Recently, the North Korean authorities have moved to crack down on the sale of these medicines due to the dangers they pose.<\/p>\n<p>Local hospitals in North Korea also have issues with dilapidated medical equipment, making it difficult for doctors to properly diagnose illnesses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s just no medicine at the hospitals. That\u2019s the major problem,\u201d said a separate source in North Hwanghae Province.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are using medicinal plants to treat their illnesses instead.\u201d The source also noted that medical equipment such as sterilizers and other testing machines are aging, with the majority dating back to the 1960s.<\/p>\n<p>North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears interested in improving the country\u2019s medical infrastructure. During a meeting focused on the work of the Central Committee held at the 7th Congress of the Korean Workers\u2019 Party in 2016, Kim called for the country\u2019s leaders to \u201caccept methods to diagnose and treat [illnesses] in line with the trends of modern medical development\u201d and that the \u201cquality of [North Korea\u2019s] medical services, including emergency medical services, must be improved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also called for the country\u2019s pharmaceutical and medical equipment factories to be modernized so that appropriate medical supplies and modern equipment could be produced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe North Korean leadership knows that there\u2019s a demand [by the people to improve the country\u2019s] hospitals, but they just don\u2019t have the ability to improve anything,\u201d said a source in South Hwanghae Province, who then asked rhetorically, \u201cThe state isn\u2019t able to guarantee a steady supply of electricity even for surgery rooms, so how can they even think about producing modern medical equipment?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She further noted that hospitals are often in perpetual darkness due to the lack of electricity and doctors have to use battery-powered lamps on their heads while conducting surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Surgical rooms suffer from particularly poor conditions. The rooms have heating pipes to allow heat to enter the room, but they lack basic medical equipment. \u201cThere\u2019s no electricity, so doctors can\u2019t even think about conducting surgery at night,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea has made some effort to modernize its medical infrastructure by expanding specialized facilities such as the Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital and introducing a \u201clong-distance medical system,\u201d similar to a remote medical service. Daily NK sources in the country say, however, that most of the country\u2019s provincial hospitals are dilapidated [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":41705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Provincial hospitals in North Korea suffering under unsanitary conditions - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea has made some effort to modernize its medical infrastructure by expanding specialized facilities such as the Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital and 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