As a medical student in North Korea, Lee Gwang-jin said he treated his fevers and other minor ailments with traditional herbal medicine. 9News
, Lee Gwang-jin said he treated his fevers and other minor ailments with traditional herbal medicine.
That, experts say, will eventually allow the country to say its leaders have beaten the outbreak, where other nations have repeatedly failed, by providing homegrown remedies, independent of outside help. "When we think about critical and high-risk patients, North Korea needs vaccines, emergency care systems and other medical resources that it can use to lower fatalities.", and the country has reported an average of 157 fever cases each day in the past seven days, a significant drop from the peak of about 400,000 a day in May.
"North Korea calls Koryo medicine 'juche medicine', treats it importantly and views it as one of its political symbols," said Kim Dongsu, a professor at the College of Korean Medicine at South Korea's Dongshin University. Koryo medicine refers to herbal concoctions that sometimes include animal parts, acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion and meridian massages.
Kim Jieun, a defector who is a traditional doctor in South Korea, said she majored in Koryo medicine at school in the North but eventually worked as a paediatrician and internal medicine doctor. They say North Korea's advanced hospitals are largely concentrated in Pyongyang, the capital, where the ruling elite and upper-class citizens loyal to the Kim family live.