J Korean Med Assoc.  2015 May;58(5):458-462. 10.5124/jkma.2015.58.5.458.

Doctors who saved our nation

• Yeo I

• KMID: 2195042
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2015.58.5.458

Abstract

It is generally accepted that medical doctor is a profession far from the political activities. However, there is an old saying that a great doctor cures a country while a small doctor cures a patient. This saying reveals that doctor's curing activities were not strictly limited to curing a patient's physical diseases. In fact, it is not difficult to find doctors who dedicated themselves for curing diseased countries. Sun Yat-sen, the first president and founding father of the Republic of China, was the exemplary figure of the great doctor who cured the nation. When Japanese colonized Korea, many doctors dedicated themselves to liberation activities. Some of them moved to Manchuria, China and even Mongol to continue their struggle against Japanese rule. Medical students were at the front line of the March first movement in 1919 which was a nationwide protest movement against Japanese unjustified occupation of Korea. During the Korean war, a doctor called Hyun Bong Hak saved the lives of more than 100,000 refugees by transporting them from Hungnam harbor to Koje island. And Chang Ki Ryeo opened a free clinic in Busan to take care of the refugees gathered there. The lives of those great doctors of yesterday invite us to reflect our lives as a doctor today.

Keyword

Independence movement; Great doctor; Korean war; Hungnam Evacuation Operation; Bokeum Hospital

MeSH Terms

Asian Continental Ancestry Group
Busan
China
Colon
Fathers
Gyeongsangnam-do
Humans
Korea
Korean War
Occupations
Politics
Refugees
Solar System
Students, Medical
Taiwan

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