“In North Korean hospitals, if you have no money, you die” – RTS.CH

A report. Moreover, presented to the United Nations by the Association for the Protection of the Rights of Women Northern Korean, exiled (RFNK), denounces the serious inequalities of the North Korean health system. In addition, Especially in the field of maternal health, which includes ultrasound, controls and basic care during pregnancy. For example,

In this dictatorship, very few women have access to this type of follow -up. Meanwhile, Medical checks are often too expensive or carried out with outdated machines, unable to detect possible anomalies. Furthermore, This lack of follow-up continues until childbirth: many women are forced to give birth at home. In addition, sometimes without the help “in north korean hospitals, if of a midwife or a doctor.

Story of childbirth in North Korea – "in north korean hospitals, if

This is what happened to Kim Jeong -Ah. president of the RFNK association – which overseen the report presented to the United Nations. 11 years ago, when she was 7 months pregnant, she feels intense contractions. At the time. she suffered from a partial paraplegia of the legs and the nearest hospital was several hours of walking. Kim Jeong-Ah has no choice: she must give birth at home.

“The work started at five in the morning, […] I called the village midwife, but she arrived late, around seven o’clock. I was already at work. The baby arrived prematurely, only seven months of pregnancy. […] There was no one else at home, only my husband and I. The play was covered with blood, “she said on Tuesday in the program a whole world of RTS.

One year waiting lists – "in north korean hospitals, if

For the newborn, complications are “in north korean hospitals, if linked and his health is deteriorating quickly. Kim Jeong-Ah decides to take him urgently to the hospital.

At the hospital, security guards pursued me, […] So, I left. My child died in my arms

After looking in vain for a diagnosis in several rural hospitals, she is sent to Pyongyang, where she finds herself on a one -year waiting list. “There, security guards were chasing me, I had nothing to eat … So I left. My child died in my arms,” ​​said the president of the RFNK association. After this drama, she made the decision to flee North Korea.

A discriminating health system

The North Korean health system is supposed to be free, with well-trained doctors and quality establishments. However, several structural problems persist. In addition to being mainly reserved “in north korean hospitals, if for the elite. recognized hospitals are in the capital and they are the only ones to have suitable equipment.

In other establishments, the shortage of equipment and drugs is partly explained by international sanctions imposed in the country. Electricity cuts are frequent and certain operations are carried out without anesthesia.

Babies. if they are born with a handicap, they are not called ‘disabled’, they are called the ‘crippled’ ‘

Chang So Yon, a former nurse today exiled, describes a rudimentary hospital system where patients must buy everything themselves. “If you don’t have any money, you die,” she sums up.

Ostracization of people with disabilities

It denounces a system discriminating by people with disabilities. “Babies, if they are born with a handicap, they are not called ‘disabled’, they are called ‘crippled’,” she adds.

The RFNK report indicates that in 96% of cases, a “in north korean hospitals, if child born with a handicap does not receive an appropriate treatment. Ten years ago. the World Health Organization alerted to worrying practices: officers recommended families not to recognize their disabled children, even to abandon them. And when families chose to keep them, they were forced to leave the capital, an institutionalized form of ostracization.

Radio subject: Salomé Laurent

Adaptation web: Miroslav Mares