Dear members of the Korean Pediatric Heart Society,
Hello.
I am Woong-han KIM, the President of the 20th term from Seoul National University Children's Hospital, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery.
Currently, all of South Korea is struggling for significant change. The medical insurance system of South Korea, which is envied worldwide, is in a situation that is no longer sustainable.
Our society belongs to the group that has suffered the most from this situation. We have reached a point where we can no longer expect the next generation to continue our field.
I will refrain from discussing the external situations we cannot control. I believe that reaching this limit is also due to our own insufficient efforts to address and overcome problems within the medical community. We need to make our own efforts to ensure that the unreasonable situations we are experiencing are not passed on to the next generation.
While the society's efforts for academic advancement are crucial, I believe that in the current situation, there is a need for efforts to drive changes in the medical field for the next generation.
Our society is essential healthcare, which no one in the medical field can deny, yet it is a specialty that the younger generation of medical professionals tends to avoid. In this situation, it is time for us to consistently raise and improve what we need to work on for the essential healthcare sector of South Korea and for the next generation through our society. The society must inform the public of the serious problems in the medical field, present alternatives to the government, and engage in dialogue with government officials. The government cannot provide us with alternatives without specialized knowledge and amidst changing personnel. Since the members of the society are most familiar with the situation and aware of the issues, we must create an internal system in the society to continuously raise problems and generate policy alternatives, while also informing the public and maintaining ongoing dialogue with government officials.
In addition to academic activities, the society should continuously gather current medical issues, create consensus on them, and propose and discuss improvement measures. There is a need to cultivate a group of experts on insurance and policy over a long period. Without extensive expertise, we cannot engage in discussions with government officials or propose alternatives. If we continue to hope that the government or medical organizations will solve our problems, there will be no future for our field. No one outside the members of our society cares about the issues in our medical field.
Changes in the society are necessary for these reasons.
Our society's members are the medical professionals who spend the most time with patients, more than any other medical practitioners. They are the ones who most frequently accompany patients during their recovery in the intensive care unit after treatment. They are the ones who celebrate the outcomes of patients the most and, in some cases, suffer the most wounds.
I sincerely hope that the value of life felt by our society members will be conveyed to the next generation, and that the society will strive for and establish a system that responds to the changing medical field; for this, I earnestly hope for the participation, effort, and sacrifice of the current members of the society.
The next generation cannot have hope without the sacrifices of the current generation.
I ask for your great attention and active participation. Thank you.
