The Munsu Area in Pyongyang is a hub of special and general hospitals. A few years ago the area had only several hospitals including the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital and the Academy of Koryo Medicine. In recent years more medical facilities have been built in the area, including the Breast Tumour Institute of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, the Okryu Children’s Hospital, the Ryugyong Dental Hospital, and the Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital. This is the result of the popular health policy pursued by the Workers’ Party of Korea and the State which spare nothing for the improvement of the people’s health.
The Breast Tumour Institute of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital has rooms for diagnosis and treatment such as a galactography room, an X-raying room and a cancer treatment room, those for research and scores of sickrooms. It is also equipped with tens of thousands of medical facilities and apparatuses of over 70 kinds, and staffed mainly with doctors and researchers in their thirties and forties, all graduates of the postgraduate course of the Pyongyang Medical College of Kim Il Sung University. Nearly 100 000 women from across the country have recovered from relevant diseases after receiving medical treatment at the institute since its inauguration in 2012.
The Okryu Children’s Hospital faces the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital with a road between them. Thanks to the country’s love for the younger generation and the future it was built as a modern medical service centre for children. The six-storey hospital has a total floor space of over 22 800 square metres. The building is surrounded by green carpets of lawn, statues of different themes and an outdoor playground. So, it looks like a children’s hospital at a glance. The hospital is provided with all conditions for children to receive medical treatment without worry and get education for different ages during their stay in the hospital like at their schools.

Pyongyang Academy of Koryo Medicine
The Academy of Koryo Medicine, a Korean-style gabled house, studies and disseminates the methods of treating many incurable diseases by combining Koryo medicine and modern medicine. The academy consists of a Koryo internal medicine institute, a Koryo surgery institute, an acupuncture and moxibustion institute, a physical constitution institute, a basic Koryo medicine institute, a Koryo pharmacy institute, a general examination office, a Koryo dispensary, an outpatient department, and a ward block with an accommodation capacity of hundreds of patients.

Ryugyong Dental Hospital
A little past the academy there are the Ryugyong Dental Hospital and the Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital. The threestorey dental hospital has several treatment departments and service facilities. Equipped with scores of modern universal dental units and chairs the hospital can treat hundreds of patients a day. And it has full sets of advanced appliances that can ensure precise prostheses. The hospital also has a treatment room, a wading pool and various other amusement facilities for children, medical information and technical exchange rooms for circulation and exchange of advanced medical science and technology and a dental hygiene requisites shop. In the hospital everyone can get dental treatment of high level including the correction of position of teeth by latest medical equipment. Since its inauguration it has treated over 120 000 patients.

Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital
The Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital was built in October last year. With a total floor space of 11 800 square metres, the hospital is a modern, general medical service centre that comprises a four-storey building for outpatients with treatment, operation and eyesight testing rooms furnished with advanced ophthalmic treatment facilities, an eight-storey building for inpatients and an eyeglass shop which also can correct and make eyeglasses for customers.
The air around the hospital village is fresh and clean as there is no industrial establishment in the area, and the good layout of road network ensures the uninterrupted running of ambulances. There is also a helipad in the area.
Now the people are keenly feeling the benefit of the socialist health system while getting free medical care in the hospital village, the outcome of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the State’s policy of prioritizing, respecting and loving the people.
Article: Pak Thae Ho