The Medical Assistance of Swedish Red Cross Field Hospital in Busan during and after the Korean War

Park, Jiwook

Abstract

After the outbreak of the Korean war, the Kingdom of Sweden, a permanent neutral nation, dispatched the Swedish Red Cross Field Hospital(SRCFH) instead of armed forces for humanitarian support to the allied forces in South Korea. The Hospital consisted of about 170 Swedes, all volunteers. From the early part of the Korean War, SRCFH took part in the medical assistance in Busan. When the frontline advanced to northern Korea, the number of inflowing casualties to this field hospital decreased. At that time, earnest medical aid for civilians commenced, and many Koreans were treated in available beds in SRCFH. After the armistice in July 1953, SRCFH became the Swedish Hospital in Busan, serving not only the military but also civilians, and continued its humanitarian mission until April 1957 for the Korean who were suffering from a collapsed medical system inthe midst of war. When the Hospital returned to Sweden, it had treated over two million patients from twenty countries, including wounded UN allied force, Korean (south and north), Chinese prisoner of war and Korean civilian. Moreover, it left a transformative legacy, the National Medical Center in Seoul which was established in collaboration with other Scandinavian countries who dispatched medical assistance during the Korean War.