Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong said on the 21st that its director, Lee Hyung-rae, a professor of urology, has been elected the first chairman of the recently launched Council of Comprehensive Training General Hospitals.
Comprehensive training hospitals are hub general hospitals that provide care for severe and emergency patients while carrying out functions such as education and research for resident physicians. They have served as the backbone of the regional medical delivery system, positioned between tertiary general hospitals and general secondary hospitals. However, as medical settings shift from reliance on resident physicians to a specialist-centered care system, the financial burden that hospitals must bear is on the rise. Government support is also concentrated on tertiary general hospitals, deepening the difficulties faced by comprehensive training hospitals, which handle another pillar of essential medical care. This is the backdrop against which the comprehensive training hospitals launched the council, aiming to normalize their care and training environments.
The council plans to raise awareness that the current institutional and financial support is woefully insufficient to overcome the practical difficulties in medical settings, and to newly build a reasonable support system.
"Comprehensive training general hospitals are pivotal institutions that protect the lives of severe and emergency patients in their regions while nurturing future medical professionals," said inaugural chairman Lee Hyung-rae. "Over the medium and long term, I will drive effective institutional improvements so that regional healthcare can take firm root and remain sustainable."
