Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan City Recommends Sunchon National University as Candidate for New National Medical School

[Financial News, Jeonnam-Gwangju = Reporter Hwang Tae-jong] A medical school will be established at Sunchon National University, located in the eastern part of Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan City (Gwangju Metropolitan City), while practical development measures will be pushed forward around Mokpo National University in the western region to build a "regionally complete medical system."
 Min Hyung-bae, the Jeonnam-Gwangju Special Mayor, said at a briefing on pending issues related to the national medical school at the fifth-floor briefing room of Gwangju City Hall on the 30th that "Sunchon National University has been selected and recommended to the government as the candidate university for a new national medical school."
 Earlier, the government conditionally approved an agenda item to exempt the preliminary feasibility study for establishing a regional national medical school at the 37th State Council of South Korea meeting on the 25th, and asked Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan City (Gwangju Metropolitan City) to recommend a candidate university for the new medical school by the 30th. The Ministry of Education then instructed the city to recommend one candidate university the next day and resubmit its implementation plan.
 In response, Gwangju Metropolitan City immediately began the recommendation process and designated the Jeonnam Research Institute as the agency responsible for the review in order to ensure objectivity, fairness and independence.
 The Jeonnam Research Institute set five review categories based on the implementation plan for establishing a regional medical school released by the Ministry of Education on the 6th: the system for promoting the new medical school, plans to secure educational facilities, plans to secure teaching hospitals, plans to secure faculty, and the roles and responsibilities of the medical school and teaching hospitals.
 The review committee was also made up of eight medical experts from across the country, including Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province. Since the 28th, it has conducted document and presentation reviews in Seoul for Mokpo National University and Sunchon National University.
 As a result, Sunchon National University received 89.15 points and Mokpo National University 87.85 points, and Sunchon National University was selected as the candidate university for the new national medical school.
 In a press briefing that day, Min Hyung-bae first said, "I deeply thank President Lee Jae-myung for reopening the path to establishing a national medical school," adding, "I also thank Mokpo National University and Sunchon National University for faithfully going through the process despite the short and difficult schedule, as well as regional political figures, including Song Hyung-gon, chair of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan Council, who worked together for regional coexistence."
 He added, "The process is not over with the recommendation of a candidate university," and urged, "We must now submit the implementation plan for the national medical school to the government together with the selected university and move through the remaining steps without disruption until the final decision. I ask the two universities, regional political leaders and citizens to join forces toward our shared goal."
 Min also stressed, "We will immediately prepare practical development measures for the universities and regions that were not selected this time," and "We will expand university-hospital-level medical infrastructure and strengthen university competitiveness so that people can receive the treatment they need in time, wherever they live in the integrated metropolitan city, and build a 'regionally complete medical system.'"
 He added, "To this end, we will immediately mobilize all of the city's capabilities around the Public Medical Innovation Committee," and "Based on the medical conditions of the region and the strengths of the universities, we will prepare development measures in the fields of medical care, education and research, and speed up the tasks that can be implemented first."
 Min concluded, "Now is the time to show the power of unity," and said, "We will bring together the capabilities of Jeonnam and Gwangju to make the establishment of a national medical school a reality."

[email protected] Hwang Tae-jong Reporter