As plans move forward to establish a medical school contingent on the merger of two South Jeolla Province national universities — Mokpo National University and Suncheon National University — the Yeosu City Council urged that a university hospital and medical school be established simultaneously in the eastern region of the province.
Yeosu City Council Speaker Ju Jae-hyeon and fellow council members gathered Tuesday in front of the eastern campus of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City in the Shindae district to issue a statement calling for the simultaneous establishment of a medical school and university hospital in the eastern region, along with the creation of a public innovation district.
The council members said that despite the eastern South Jeolla region's concentration of key national industrial facilities and its vast maritime and island territories — which generate high demand for industrial accident response and emergency medical care — the area lacks not only a medical school and university hospital but even a general hospital. Critically ill emergency patients are losing their lives because they cannot receive timely treatment, the council said.
They added that the "super-wide integrated medical belt" plan recently announced by the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City addresses the eastern region only by reinforcing existing medical institutions, falling short of reflecting the actual medical situation and residents' needs. The council called for the simultaneous establishment of a medical school and university hospital to be pursued as a regional development strategy linked to the creation of a public innovation district.
Through the statement, the council members called for the simultaneous establishment of a medical school and university hospital within the eastern region's shared living zone, the priority designation of an eastern South Jeolla public innovation district and the formulation of a comprehensive regional development plan, and the creation of an official consultative body involving the central government, the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City, local governments, regional universities, the medical community and civil society.
"Establishing a medical school and university hospital simultaneously in the eastern region is not a matter of choice — it is a national obligation to protect the right to life of 860,000 residents in Yeosu, Suncheon and surrounding areas," Speaker Ju said. "The central government and the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Metropolitan City must make a responsible decision to address the medical imbalance and achieve balanced regional development."
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