Yonhap
4/26/2007
Medical doctors from South and North Korea on Thursday started working together at a hospital inside an industrial complex just north of the inter-Korean border, officials said.
“We will make efforts to develop it into a general hospital in Kaesong. I thank a lot of people who help us,” said Jeong Geun, secretary-general of Green Doctors, which is in charge of running the medical facilities inside the Kaesong industrial complex.
Since Green Doctors established facilities for emergency medical services in January 2005, it has provided free medical services for about 20,000 workers from South and North Korea. It plans to open a general hospital in Kaesong by early 2008.
The doctors held a ceremony in front of the medical facilities and about 200 officials from the two Koreas were present, Jeong said.
So far, there have been piecemeal inter-Korean exchange programs for medical doctors, but this marks the first time that doctors from the two Koreas have worked together at the same hospital since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
According to officials, the South will handle dental, surgical and internal disease affairs, while the North will specialize in eye care, oriental medicine, obstetrics and gynecology.
Medical officials from the two sides have been preparing for the launch of the joint medical services for several months, and about 30 medical staff, including nurses and paramedics from the two sides, will provide assistance for the medical team.
The complex, located just north of the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas, is a jointly-operated project in which South Korean businesses produce goods through the employment of cheap North Korean labor. Twenty-one South Korean factories employ about 11,160 North Korean workers in Kaesong.
