On January 1, Juche 42 (1953) the news spread across the country that the universal free medical care system was to be enforced throughout the country on the morning of the New Year, when the final victory of the Fatherland Liberation War was about to come.
The news amazed the entire Korean people and service personnel. Indeed, it was a dreamlike news since it was told in the grim period when they were turning out in a decisive drive to smash the large-scale "new offensive" of the U.S. imperialists. Therefore, they could not help but doubt their ears.
President
"We should introduce universal and free medical care at state expense. This would be one of the most popular measures."
The enforcement of the universal free medical care system was planned from long ago and brought to reality by President
When he embarked on the road of the revolutionary struggle in his early years and came up with the far-reaching plan to build a new country where the people were its masters, he regarded it as the noble duty of the revolutionaries to solve the centuries-long desire of the people and he established hospitals in the guerrilla base areas and provided free medical care to the people living there in the period of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle. This was the beginning of a new history of free medical care system.
In addition to it, he clarified that the people should be provided with the free medical care in the "20-Point Programme" and eliminated the remnants of Japanese colonial rule to democratize the public health with the implementation of the overall democratic reforms. He also took important historical measures to introduce free medical care under the State Social Insurance Law to workers, clerks and their family members who needed medical assistance from Juche 36 (1947).
Under the wise leadership of the President, the free medical care was successfully introduced under the State Social Insurance Law, in no more than one year after the liberation when the country was suffering a serious shortage of everything, brought about a radical change in eradicating the vicious consequences of the Japanese imperialist colonial rule and protecting and improving the health of the working people, and encouraged our people to actively turn out in the building of a new country as they felt personally the advantages of the people's democratic system in their own lives.
The President brought the far-reaching intention to its maturity to make the centuries-old dream of our people come true and pushed ahead the preparations for the implementation of universal free medical care even in the difficult conditions of the Fatherland Liberation War.
He saw to it that the public health service was restructured to meet the wartime requirements and took measures to provide the injured with emergency treatment in the enemy's bombing and shelling and render the treatment of the war victims free of charge.
On January 20, Juche 41 (1952), the Minister of Public Health and other officials in the relevant sector were called in by the President.
On the office desk was a document on the result of enemy's germ warfare and the following measures to take.
At that time, the U.S. imperialists, who had been driven into a tight corner by the fierce attack of the Korean People's Army, were committing vicious germ warfare within the territory of the DPRK in the new year in order not to lose their face anymore.
The public health sector faced an important task to smash the enemy's barbarous germ warfare by means of hygienic and anti-epidemic measures.
However, surprisingly, his first question was how much money they received from the people for the treatment.
There was no one responding since the question was beyond their expectation.
After a while, an official reported that the workers and clerks were treated free of charge thanks to the state social insurance system while the peasants and private merchants and manufacturers paid only a small amount for medical services and the family members of the workers and clerks paid only about 40% of the charge.
The President put the document on the desk and made a moment of silence and said that the Korean people are devoting their all to the victory of the war at the front and in the rear without sparing anything, even their own lives for the victory of the war. He asked what were there to spare for these patriotic and devoted people and added with confidence that he would enforce free medical care for all the people.
The officials couldn't find any words to make comments and looked at each other doubting their ear for a while.
From olden times, it was taken for granted to suffer from diseases during the war. Therefore, the officials could not but be deeply moved because such communist policy for people as the universal free medical care was beyond everybody's expectation because the country was in such a harsh period when even a penny was as priceless as thousands of dollars for the victory of the war.
After a moment's thought, he continued:
If the anti-Japanese guerillas had chances to write or tell stories about their life in the Japanese colonial rule, they would write or say that it was most tearful to see their parents die of diseases because they couldn't afford even a dose of medicine. This was the regret of the guerillas as well as the entire nation. In those days, they longed for the healthy and long life without suffering from any diseases even when they worked as slaves.
He emphasized that it is the noble obligation of the revolutionaries to make such centuries-old dreams come true.
As he had personally experienced the miserable plight of the Korean people suffering from hunger and all kinds of diseases, he intended to enforce the universal free medical care by escalating the system step by step even in harsh period.
Looking at the officials who became very excited, he said in a friendly voice that the system should be introduced at state expense and that would be the most popular policy, and that no matter how much it would cost or how difficult it might be, we should introduce the system with all sincerity.
It was such a great decision unprecedented in history that can be made by only our leader who believed in the people as in heaven and spared nothing for the people.
He also asserted that the thorough introduction of the system would depend on how well it was prepared and thus they should prepare for the introduction for about 1 year. He also gave instructions to the possible questions in introducing the system.
Afterwards, officials in the public health sector waged an indefatigable struggle to get ready for the introduction in hearty response to the instructions of the president.
However, preparations were never easy under the wartime situations.
Moreover, the anti-Party and counter-revolutionary factionalists made overt and covert schemes to hinder the introduction of the system under the pretext of "how would it be possible to enforce free medical care before the socialist transformation?", "what if they lacked doctors and medicine after the introduction?". Some people, too, hesitated and questioned whether the system could be introduced as scheduled since the state lacked money.
Despite all those obstacles, the president always paid close attention to the preparations and took meticulous care of funds and material supplies. He also convened the Organizing Committee of the Central Committee (former) of the Workers' Party of Korea and ensured that concrete measures were taken to settle the difficult problems in a revolutionary way by enlisting the Party organizations.
He ensured that not only the in-patients were provided with medical treatment and medicine free of charge but also the out-patients were provided with free medical care. In particular, since the system was to be enforced under a wartime condition, he saw to it that even the army medical facilities provided all the civilians with free medical treatment.
He showed great benevolence for the hurt and emergency patients who had been injured in the bombing by letting them be admitted to the hospitals and supplied with state food even though they did not have a state meal card.
Such an energetic leadership of the president brought all the prerequisites for the introduction of the system to the maturity even in the difficult wartime circumstances.
Thanks to his wise leadership and warm love, the Cabinet decision "On Implementing the universal free medical care system" was declared on November 13, Juche 41 (1952) and the system was enforced to the full scale from January 1, Juche 42 (1953).
The enforcement of the universal free medical care system, the most advantageous system in the world, was a crystallization of the great love for the human being of President
The enforcement of the system in the flames of a do-or-die war, in which the destiny of the country was to be decided by whether or not the enemy's military invasion was defeated, was a brilliant victory of the unique idea of the free medical care system illuminated by President
Thanks to the successful introduction of the universal free medical care system under the wise guidance of President
