Assembly health committee chair visits Andong to push for regional medical school

People Power Party Rep. Lee Man-hee, who represents Yeongcheon and Cheongdo in North Gyeongsang Province and chairs the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, visited Gyeongkuk National University in Andong on Friday to review progress on establishing a regional medical school in North Gyeongsang Province and hear on-site views on expanding essential and public healthcare in the region.

About 10 people attended the on-site meeting, including Lee, fellow Health and Welfare Committee member Rep. Lee Dal-hee, the North Gyeongsang Province policy director, the Andong deputy mayor and the vice president of Gyeongkuk National University.

At the meeting, Lee received a briefing on the university's efforts to attract a regional medical school and held wide-ranging discussions on the status of those efforts by North Gyeongsang Province and the university, the institutional challenges that have emerged during consultations with the central government, and possible responses at the regional level.

"The shortage of medical personnel in North Gyeongsang Province is an urgent issue directly tied to the lives and safety of residents — and to the very survival of the region," Lee said. "To close the healthcare gap between the greater Seoul area and non-metropolitan regions, we must build a foundation that trains the medical workforce locally and helps them settle there sustainably."

Lee said that, as chair of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, he would actively work to persuade the government and relevant agencies to ensure the establishment of a regional medical school in North Gyeongsang Province yields tangible results, and would take the lead in providing the necessary policy and legislative support.