The nation's
international medical aid to Laos has come to fruition, the Korea Development
Institute School of Public Policy and Management (KDI School) said Wednesday.
The KDI
School held a seminar on Wednesday at Fraser Place Namdaemun in central Seoul
to evaluate the results of the past five years of the official development
assistance (ODA) program named Dr. Lee Jong-wook Seoul Project in Lao PDR.
According
to the KDI School's evaluation report, the faculty members of the Lao
University of Health Science (UHS), who were trained through the program, have
improved their teaching capacity, while their students have shown higher
academic achievements.
Nonetheless,
the KDI School noted that it remains to be seen whether the improved academic
performance of the medical school's graduates has directly led to the
improvement of healthcare in Laos.
The
Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare
and the Seoul National University (SNU) College of Medicine initiated the aid
program in 2011 with the aim of improving the health of Laotians.
The
program, named after Dr. Lee Jong-wook, the late director-general of the World
Health Organization, was benchmarked on the Minnesota Plan, a seven-year U.S.
assistance program that educated 226 SNU medical professors beginning in 1955
and supplied medical equipment.
Through
the Dr. Lee Jong-wook Seoul Project, 10 UHS professors participate in the one-year
training course at the SNU College of Medicine every year. During the training,
the participants take various medical courses and are also provided with
equipment for their own research and education.
Chung
Hyun-chae
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