Surgeon’s Plea

[Anchor Lead]

Dr. Lee Cook-jong, the high profile surgeon treating a badly injured North Korean soldier who defected to the South, used his new-found fame to make a case at the National Assembly for improving conditions at South Korea’s trauma centers. The chief of Ajou University Hospital's Trauma Center criticized the misuse of increased trauma budgets and said that the reality of the Korean medical system is a lot worse than most people think.

[Pkg]

While attending a seminar at the National Assembly, Doctor Lee Cook-jong, head of the Trauma Center at Ajou University Hospital, criticized the problems of the emergency medical care system in Korea. He made detailed comparisons of Korea's trauma centers to those he had worked in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, and pleaded for help.

[Soundbite] Dr. Lee Cook-jong(Chief of Trauma Center, Ajou Univ. Hospital) : "The fact that it takes over an hour to send up an urgent patient to the OR after he arrives at the hospital shows that Korea is worse than the Middle East. Don't you think so?"

He also released the images of him treating Captain Seok Hae-kyun during the Gulf of Aden rescue operation to talk about the difficulties of dealing with back-stabbing and bad-mouthing from those in the medical community.

[Soundbite] Dr. Lee Cook-jong(Chief of Trauma Center, Ajou Univ. Hospital) : "It was hard for me to bear the severe bad-mouthing by other doctors, saying that I was putting on a show. Do you really think this isn't serious?"

Doctor Lee thanked the National Assembly for increasing the budget for emergency medical care, but pointed out that the money isn't being funneled down to the frontline doctors like himself.

[Soundbite] Dr. Lee Cook-jong(Chief of Trauma Center, Ajou Univ. Hospital) : "Do you think I can use the increased budget to build a good trauma system? I'm shedding tears of blood because other people are taking the money."

When questioned about the possibility of him entering politics for his strong conviction and stellar reputation, he firmly denied the conjecture by saying that politics is not for just anybody to enter into.