April 3 marks the 40th anniversary of adoption of the Law on Public Health of the DPRK.

Today, the Korean people are enjoying happy life thanks to the people-oriented health care system which fully provides them with the right to medical treatment on a high level.

During the Fatherland Liberation War (June 1950-July 1953), the DPRK promulgated the Cabinet decision on enforcing the universal free medical service unprecedented in the world history of public health, and stipulated it as one of fundamental rights of citizens to receive free medical care in the Socialist Constitution.

Accordingly, workers, farmers, intellectuals and other people receive all kinds of medical service free of charge, to say nothing of consultation, checkup, treatment and surgical operation, and even the expenses of travelling to and from sanatoriums are borne by the State or cooperative organizations.

The State shows special benefits for children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Preventive medicine is one of public health policies of the DPRK, together with the universal free medical care system.

Thanks to the district doctor system in which medical workers take responsibilities for the protection and promotion of health of residents in a given district, all the Korean people receive medical service not only at hospitals but also at home.

The public health sector takes measures to prevent diseases by intensifying hygienic and anti-epidemic work.

It also turns hygienic propaganda into a society-wide work so that all the people make it a rule to know well the general information on hygiene and thoroughly prevent diseases in advance.

The nationwide telemedicine system has been set up to link the hospitals in the capital city with local hospitals, with the result that patients in a remote area receive prompt medical service with the aid of competent doctors of central hospitals.

The DPRK has fully built up the material and technical conditions to provide the free medical care system substantially.

People’s hospitals, clinics, general hospitals and special hospitals can be found in all parts of the country. In recent years alone, such medical establishments as the Breast Tumour Institute of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, Okryu Children’s Hospital, Ryugyong Dental Hospital, and Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital have been newly built.

A ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of Pyongyang General Hospital took place on March 17. It is the manifestation of public health policy of the DPRK which regards the protection and improvement of its people’s health as a most pressing and honourable revolutionary undertaking, which it should shoulder and fulfil without fail whatever the situation.