It has been reported that the Health Bureau of the North Hamgyong Province People’s Committee has begun a crackdown on medical institutions receiving bribes and issuing false medical certificates. In particular, it is said that the seriousness is further emphasized in the fact that there are frequent cases of residents near the border trying to illegally receive funds or communicate with the outside world by issuing false medical certificates.
According to Daily NK’s North Hamgyong Province source on the 9th, an incident occurred in the middle of last month when a North Korean defector family living in Cheongjin secretly headed to the border area of Hyesan, Ryanggang Province without any supporting documents and was arrested by the local Ministry of Security.
The source explains that after the Ministry of Safety and Security’s investigation revealed that he had used falsely issued medical certificates as a reason for his absence from work, crackdowns on the issuance of false medical certificates by medical institutions began in earnest.
North Korean residents must obtain a travel document when moving to other regions. However, issuance of travel documents to border areas is reportedly limited. The main reason is that they can attempt to defect from North Korea.
Therefore, residents trying to enter the border area use ‘friendship’ and ‘money’ to obtain false medical certificates from medical institutions, create legitimate reasons for not going to work, buy time, and then secretly attempt to move to the border.
“People who are issued fake medical certificates usually do this to avoid state control,” the source said. “For example, fake medical certificates are used to try to contact family members who have defected from North Korea or receive funds from them. “There is,” he said.
Accordingly, the Health Department of the North Hamgyong Province People’s Committee announced that it would significantly strengthen punishment for fraudulent practices such as medical institutions accepting bribes and issuing false medical certificates.
Above all, the source said, “mental reform” is needed for medical staff to avoid being involved in such misconduct, emphasizing re-education on medical ethics and thorough reporting of problematic behavior.
A source said, “In this case, the doctor who was caught issuing a fake medical certificate is in an unfortunate situation where he will be revolutionized.”
At the same time, the source said, “Both the arrested person and the doctor did this to make a living. “If we don’t have this method, how can we live with suffocation?” he said. “In fact, if we were to reform the minds of doctors for this problem, everyone would be subject to reform.”
“Fake medical certificates are becoming a key tool for anti-socialist activities,” the source said. “As crackdowns become more severe, there are concerns that the ‘business costs’ (bribe costs) exchanged between residents and doctors will only increase. “Complaints that they will have to struggle even more are increasing,” he added.
Meanwhile, as the crackdown began in earnest, some doctors who knew the situation were afraid of getting into trouble, so they openly asked residents who tried to give false medical certificates “Where are you going and why?”, and if they were suspicious, they even refused to give them medical certificates at all.
Source: www.dailynk.com
