The ‘Medical Support Program for Partner Cities in Asia’, which the city of Incheon (Mayor Park Chan-dae) has carried out since 2007, marks its 20th anniversary this year. Over the past two decades, the program has enabled 175 children from Incheon’s partner regions across Asia to undergo surgery and treatment in the city and regain their health, and the young patients from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, this year’s first project site, have also completed their treatment and return to their home country on July 28.
 [코리안투데이] Recovery celebration for children invited under Incheon’s Medical Support Program for Partner Cities in Asia © 장형임 기자 |
This year’s first medical aid destination was Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. From May 28 to 31, the medical team of Gil Medical Center at Gachon University examined 55 children with heart conditions on site, and after weighing the severity of each illness and the likelihood of recovery after surgery, ultimately selected 4 as candidates for invited treatment. A group of 9, including the young patients, their guardians and a local escort, arrived in Korea on July 9 to receive surgery and treatment at Gachon University Gil Medical Center, and on the 27th the city of Incheon held a recovery celebration to encourage them on their new beginning.
Six-year-old Akzhol, one of those who arrived this time, was found to have a ventricular septal defect and a lung condition shortly after birth, but his young age and his family’s financial circumstances had forced the surgery to be postponed. His mother, Zheenkul, found it hard to believe that everything from airfare to surgery and hospital costs would be fully covered, and only made up her mind to travel to Korea after repeatedly confirming with another family that had received surgery through the same program the previous year. The youngest of six siblings, Akzhol now sleeps and eats well after his surgery, and rarely fusses in discomfort as he once did. Zheenkul said, ‘It felt as if God had chosen our child,’ and expressed her hope that he would grow up healthy enough to dream of becoming a swimmer.
Two-year-old Rinat, who arrived together with him, had suffered from cyanosis due to tetralogy of Fallot, which turned his fingers and lips blue, but after surgery the cyanosis disappeared and he regained a healthy complexion. His mother, Mirgul, said, ‘I am grateful to everyone who gave my child a new heart and a new chance,’ adding, ‘I hope Rinat grows up healthy and becomes an interpreter.’
The city of Incheon launched this program in 2007 to support medically underserved populations in its partner cities across Asia and to build a foundation for friendly cooperation between cities. The support begins with on-site examinations, in which medical staff travel directly to partner cities to see patients. Severe patients who urgently need treatment in Korea are then invited to Incheon, where the process continues through surgery and recovery. Incheon covers the airfare for the children and their guardians, their domestic transportation, and the cost of the medical team’s on-site examinations, while the medical institution bears the expenses for surgery, treatment and hospitalization, and civic organizations and local partner agencies provide close support throughout the entire process, from identifying candidates to their arrival and departure.
Over the past 20 years, 175 patients from Asian partner regions including Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia have received surgery and treatment in Incheon, and the number of people examined by medical staff on site has reached 6,792. A large share of those invited for treatment are children with congenital heart disease. With timely surgery they can return to a healthy daily life, but they are children at high risk of missing their window for treatment because of local medical conditions, long surgical waiting times and financial hardship.
Professor Choi Chang-hyu of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at Gil Medical Center, who performed this surgery, explained, ‘Since the children do not stay in Korea for long, we select the candidates by comprehensively considering the child’s condition, whether surgery is feasible, and the recovery process afterward.’ He added, ‘I feel a great sense of reward in knowing that the city of Incheon, medical institutions and civic organizations join forces so that these children can reclaim a healthy life,’ and said, ‘The most moving moment is seeing a child who once had surgery through this program grow into an adult and become a proud member of society.’
Behind the program’s ability to continue for 20 years lies a clear division of roles among public institutions, medical institutions and civic organizations. Incheon handles cooperation with partner cities as well as administrative and financial support, local medical institutions such as Gil Medical Center provide specialist medical staff and treatment capacity, and civic organizations such as the Miral Heart Foundation and the New Life Finding Campaign Headquarters underpin the program by identifying local patients and providing sponsorship. Rather than stopping at one-off aid, the program links city to city through the medium of human life, and in that respect it is regarded as a sustainable model of local diplomacy grounded in humanitarianism.
Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae emphasized, ‘The medical support program carried on over the past 20 years is the fruit of a people-centered city diplomacy that goes beyond humanitarian aid to share the value of life across borders,’ adding, ‘Saving one child’s life is at once saving one nation’s future and taking root in a firm bond of solidarity.’ He further stated, ‘Going forward, Incheon will continue and expand its support for medically underserved populations on the basis of world-class medical capabilities and a public-private cooperation system,’ and pledged, ‘We will fulfill our responsibility as an international city that puts into practice the value of sharing beyond borders.’
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화코리안브랜드대상 신청 최고경영인대상 신청 소비자만족도대상 신청
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