Amputation and other major surgeries carried out without anaesthesia are just one indication of the dire state of North Korea’s healthcare system, a new Amnesty International report has found…. “North Korea has failed to provide for the most basic health and survival needs of its people. This is especially true of those who are too poor to pay for medical care,” said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific. According to the World Health Organization’s last available figures, North Korea spent less on healthcare than any other country in the world - under US$1 per person per year in total…. The report found that many North Koreans bypass doctors altogether, going straight to the markets to buy medicine, self-medicating according to their own guesswork or the advice of market vendors. The North Korean authorities recently banned a highly addictive narcotic painkiller than many North Koreans routinely used as a cure-all.
Let’s face it, America. Our health care system sucks. No, the quality of available care isn’t the problem, but here in the richest and most powerful nation on the planet, millions can’t afford health insurance (including, currently, yours truly). These millions live in mortal fear of suffering a catastrophic health problem that could literally wipe them out financially. While I could allow myself to become thoroughly wound up of the immorality of this state of affairs, I’ve done my time on my soapbox. As sad and sorry and Third World-ish as our health care system is, there’s one thing we should probably ALL be grateful for. Yes, kids…things could be worse.
If we get sick, at least we won’t be doing it in North Korea, whose health care “system” would have to undergo a serious upgrade even to be considered worthy of the Third World. According to a report released last week by Amnesty International, North Korean have about as much access to adequate health care as Glenn Beck has a grip on reality.
While North Korea’s nomenklatura, in particular Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, live in the lap of luxury, their countrymen suffer in a system not fit for human consumption.
“Five medical assistants held my arms and legs down to keep me from moving,” the report quoted a 24-year-old North Korean defector as saying, describing how his left leg was amputated without anesthesia after a train accident. “I was in so much pain that I screamed and eventually fainted from pain.”
Other defectors told similarly horrific stories. One said her appendix was removed without anesthesia and her hands and feet were bound to prevent her from moving during the procedure. Others told of entire cities with no ambulances.
Yes, our health care system is unfair and inequitable, and access to health care is based on the contents of your wallet, but the reality that North Koreans face is criminal. The American government has been aware of the problems inside North Korea for years. Unfortunately, American policy is oriented toward maintaining the political status quo on the Korean Peninsula, not addressing and easing the humanitarian crisis north of the 49th Parallel.
Hmm…I wonder what might happen if large reserves of oil were discovered in North Korea??
