(Wednesday Lounge) Kim In-won, President of the Korea Health Management Association, celebrates his 60th anniversary
“The Health Management Association played a key role in eradicating parasites from all over the country in the 1960s, and played a central role in the spread of an efficient health checkup model starting in the 1980s. “Starting this year, when we celebrate our 60th birthday, we will use big tech to build a customized health management model to not only protect the people’s health, but also present a health care model for people around the world.”
Kim In-won (70), president of the Korea Health Management Association (KHK), which celebrated its 60th anniversary this year, said in an interview at the headquarters of the Health Management Association in Deungchon-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul on the 5th, “The association is a two-step decisive leap forward by pioneers with the right will and passion. “Through this, we have achieved achievements that the world can envy,” he said. “I am confident that the third leap will also be successfully achieved by passionate employees who share the organization’s good vision and goals.”
The seeds of the National Medical Association were medical professionals who gave up their wealth and fame for the sake of the people’s health, and it was the sad death of a girl that made the world go crazy. On October 24, 1963, a 9-year-old girl was lying around clutching her stomach in front of Jeonju Jesus Hospital. When Dr. Paul Grain of the hospital performed a laparotomy, he found as many as 1,063 roundworms squirming around. The girl weighed 20kg and the roundworm weighed 5kg. In the end, the girl died without recovering. This case was published in the overseas surgical journal 《Annals of Surgery》 and was also introduced to domestic and international media. The government could no longer delay measures against parasites, so it accepted suggestions from health professionals and launched the Korea Parasite Eradication Association in 1964.
The first president was Dr. Ssangcheon Lee Young-chun (1903-1980), who received a doctorate in medicine from Kyoto University in Japan and was guaranteed a professorship and a wealthy life, but he devoted himself to medical service in rural areas and was called ‘Korea’s Schweitzer.’ Dr. Lee said, “Preventive medicine will benefit many people, even if it is difficult to become rich. In an age where everyone values their own interests, become a real doctor who heals the sick through public health,” said Severance Medical School principal Oliver Avison (1860-1956), who engraved in his heart the admonition at the graduation ceremony and practiced medicine in rural areas. We were keenly aware that eradicating parasites was the greatest challenge to public health.
Parasitic infection rate: 84.3% in 1971 → 2.4% in 1997
Chairman Kim In-won said, “In the early days, medical professionals with a strong sense of mission and executives from the military worked together to lay the foundation for the organization,” adding, “The executives from the military did not hesitate to work overtime, got the job done quickly, and introduced the military computer system to organizations across the country.” “We have laid the administrative foundation for the growth of the association,” he said. However, passion alone was not enough. In an organization without know-how, upon hearing that the Secretary General of the Japan Parasite Prevention Association was coming to Seoul, executives and staff, including Vice Chairman So Jin-tak (1921-2016), went to Gimpo Airport and almost ‘kidnapped’ him, begging for help. Director Jojiro Kunii, impressed by the enthusiasm of the executives and staff, passed on all the know-how of the Japan Parasite Prevention Association.
The association led the National Assembly to pass the ‘Parasite Disease Prevention Act’, imposing an obligation on schools to test and treat students for parasite infections at least twice a year. Since 1971, a nationwide survey of intestinal parasite infection rates has been conducted every five years. These proactive activities resulted in a global achievement of lowering the parasite infection rate from 84.3% in 1971 to 2.4% in 1997.
However, these results actually threatened the existence of the institution. According to the 1980 Economic Planning Board Statistics Bureau’s ‘Korean Mortality Survey’, circulatory diseases were 35.4%. While cancer was at 11.7%, infectious diseases, including parasitic infections, dropped sharply to 6.5%, raising questions about the reason for the institution’s existence.
“The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs demanded that we prepare for adult diseases, and the association created an internal medical department and attempted to receive screening programs for adult diseases. However, the Economic Planning Board cut the entire budget for the screening project. After finally persuading the Economic Planning Board, the ministry in charge of the Ministry of Health and Welfare had changed, and it was difficult for public officials to conduct screening for adult diseases under the name of the Parasite Eradication Association. So, we created a separate association with personnel from the Parasite Association and developed the business. “For several weeks, we pushed forward with a sense of mission for public health.”
The name of the new association was decided to be the current name among ‘Korea Preventive Medicine Association (Association)’, ‘Korea Adult Disease Screening Association’, ‘Korea Health Screening Association (Association)’, and ‘Korea Health Management Association (Association)’. It has become an exquisite choice ahead of the century AI (artificial intelligence) customized health care era.
In 1982, the Korea Health Management Association was officially launched, and four years later it merged with the Parasite Eradication Association and has grown into a mammoth organization with about 3,600 employees working at the headquarters, 17 branches in cities and provinces nationwide, and the Central Inspection Headquarters. The organization has been holding academic conferences every year since 2003 and publishing an average of 10 papers in academic journals every year.
Chairman Kim said, “Starting this year, our 60th anniversary, we will take the lead in establishing and spreading AI-based customized health care. This is not only essential for public health, but it is also a way to contribute to the growth of the industry and the global public interest.”
Customized health management is the provision of personalized health care by combining the association’s vast amount of big data, AI analysis of examination records, and genome test results. The association has introduced 35 types of genetic panel tests for cancer and 41 types of hereditary arrhythmia as health check-up items, and plans to increase the number of items that will be helpful in health management in the future.
“Customers who visit once must come back.”
Last April, the association opened a shared laboratory called ‘Medi Open Lab’ and began the task of helping bio startups grow and expand overseas with the help of the association. The association also plans to establish a research association with big tech companies such as Naver, Kakao, and KT, Ewha Womans University Medical Center, and Seoul National University Hospital Gangnam Center to share data and conduct joint research for ‘personalized health management.’
“In order to achieve our vision for the future, we will have to be more faithful to the present. At the association’s health checkup center, we will stabilize the RFID (radio frequency identification)-based system to reduce customer movement and waiting times, and improve customer support services by introducing AICC (artificial intelligence-based contact center). “Customers who have visited once must come back.”
Chairman Kim emphasized, “We will not neglect to realize social value and spread good influence in the local community.” The goal is to develop the spirit of public interest at the time of the association’s establishment by promoting support for treatment costs for patients with rare incurable diseases, support for the production of vehicles specialized for the disabled, a campaign to share a meal with undernourished children, and support for the independence of youth in family care (young carers).
“The 60th anniversary event was also carried out in connection with this. We launched the 60th anniversary ‘Walk On’ relay walking challenge, providing support for treatment costs for patients with rare or incurable diseases based on the total number of steps. In the walking competition held at Banpo Park on the Han River, 2,000 people participated and contributed to the patient support fee corresponding to the number of steps taken. We also successfully held the ‘Barrier Free Exhibition’, which teaches illustration to talented people with developmental disabilities for 8 weeks and creates and showcases collaborative works with famous artists. “I am proud and satisfied that our executives and employees are happily participating in these activities because they are sharing the sense of public interest that began from the founding of our organization.”
Chairman In-won Kim is a world authority in radiology and served as head professor of the Department of Radiology at Seoul National University College of Medicine, director of the Department of Radiology at Seoul National University Hospital, president of the Asia-Oceania Society of Pediatric Radiology, and president of the Korean Society of Ultrasound. Since 2002, when he was a professor at Seoul National University, he has served as an expert member and vice president of the Health Management Association and advised on the association’s major decisions. He was inaugurated as president in 2021.
Source: kormedi.com
