An official of the Ministry of Public Health said that it is the basic duty of socialist medicine to prevent diseases before they break out and protect and promote the people’s health, adding that it is an important task for the public health sector this year to make all the people throughout the country receive substantial protection and benefit of socialist public health by steadily bringing medical service closer to reality.

The demand for steadily bringing preventive and curative medical care closer to reality and improving the quality of medical service is one of the tasks set forth at the Eleventh Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea for the public health sector.

To this end, the Ministry of Public Health is actively offering medical services.

From early in January, it ensured that preventive and curative institutions at all levels sent competent medical teams on a regular basis to major units and relevant areas, which have poor medical abilities or which urgently need the assistance of medical institutions, so as to conduct outreach treatment activities.

Medical workers of the Kim Man Yu Hospital, Pyongyang University of Medical Sciences Hospital, Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital and other central-level hospitals went to the Pyongyang Thermal Power Station, Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Textile Mill and other industrial establishments in different economic sectors to devote their sincerity to the promotion of working people’s health.

“Thanks to the benefits of the outreach medical service, I came to know a disease that I did not know and could take timely treatment,” said Jo Myong Son, worker of the Rangnang Disabled Soldiers' Essential Plastic Goods Factory.

The Ministry of Public Health is channelling great efforts into giving full play to the advantages and vitality of the section doctor system.

Through the residents’ health care system which was introduced to hospitals in ri, the lowest preventive and curative unit in administrative district, and polyclinics, it has made sure that household doctors guarantee residents’ health in a scientific way by taking timely preventive measures against different diseases after becoming fully aware of their health. And it also makes them always grasp hygienic conditions in the areas in their charge, conduct hygienic information activities for residents and pay close attention to health management including medical examination in close contact with doctors of special departments.

The ministry makes sure that the scientific and modernization level is raised in order to improve the quality of medical service for the working people.

It sees to it that competent medical workers from the central-level hospitals improve the quality of medical service as they transfer advanced diagnosis and treatment methods to provincial-level preventive and curative institutions and generalize experiences obtained from the treatment of incurable diseases.

It also arranges work in detail in order to introduce the first-aid command system into the lowest preventive and curative institutions in every province, city and county, provide them with good conditions for telemedicine service and operate it efficiently.