Seoul Paik Hospital founder's descendant strives to prevent hospital closure

Employees of Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital hold pickets outside the hospital urging management to retract a decision to shut down the long-serving public health center, Seoul, June 20. Yonhap

By Lee Hyo-jin

Paik Jin-kyung, a professor at the multimedia department of Inje University, is striving to save Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital ― an 82-year-old facility founded by the late uncle of her father ― from permanent closure.

“We have gathered our intentions to take action to preserve the legacy of Seoul Paik Hospital by transforming it into a global K-medical industry hub,” the professor, along with several of her colleagues, said in a statement earlier this week.

Professor Paik is the daughter of Paik Nak-hwan, former chairman of the Inje Education Foundation. The older Paik is the cousin of the late Paik In-je, an early pioneer of modern Korean medicine who founded the Paik Inje Surgical Clinic in 1941, which later became known as Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital.

“The closure of the hospital, which is an important heritage of Seoul's history of modernization, would be a significant loss to the city's historical value,” the statement read, expressing concerns that shutting down the hospital will hurt the city development as well as on the operation of four other Paik Hospitals affiliated with Inje University ― Busan Paik Hospital, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Ilsan Paik Hospital and Haeundae Paik Hospital.

Paik also announced her bid for the presidency of Inje University, as a part of her efforts to launch various campaigns to prevent the hospital's closure. The election for the post is slated for August.

On Monday, the professor met with Kang Cheol-won, Seoul City's Vice Mayor for Political Affairs, where she proposed a blueprint for transforming the hospital into a so-called K-medical center to attract foreign visitors, considering that the facility is located in the tourist district of Myeong-dong.

The hospital, located in Seoul's central Jung District, has played a significant role as a medical institute specializing in infectious diseases over the past eight decades.

However, due to snowballing losses, the hospital's board of directors decided in June to permanently shut down the facility. According to the plan announced by the hospital operators, it will close at the end of August after they finish transferring its patients to other affiliated hospitals.