The Ministry of Health and Welfare has cut the budget entirely, but patient care remains unchanged.
Korea University Guro Hospital announced on the 4th that it would cease operations of its trauma surgery training center on the 28th. This center has been the only domestic facility specializing in training physicians for severe trauma care.
Since being designated as a training center by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2014, the hospital has been producing specialists to treat severe trauma patients, such as those in car accidents.
The reason for the center’s closure is the Ministry’s decision to cut the previously supported annual budget of 900 million won. However, the hospital will continue operating its wards and treat severe trauma patients as usual, although the training center itself will close.
Severe trauma refers to serious injuries sustained from incidents like traffic accidents or falls, and physicians specializing in the intensive treatment of such conditions are known as trauma surgeons.
The character Baek Kang-hyeok, a trauma surgeon in the popular Netflix drama “Trauma Center,” represents this profession. Notably, in 2011, Dr. Lee Guk-jong, head of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital and then director of Ajou University Hospital’s regional trauma center, treated Captain Seok Hae-kyun, who was shot during the ‘Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden’ against Somali pirates.