Father Lee Tae-seok’s 9 disciples and officers from the Lee Tae-seok Basis go to his gravesite in Damyang, South Jeolla Province. Courtesy of the Lee Tae-seok Basis
When cholera swept by means of our group in 2007, I noticed Father Lee treating as many as 300 sufferers a day on his personal. I believed, ‘If solely there have been yet one more physician.’ I’ll dedicate myself to my individuals again house, utilizing the data and abilities I realized in Korea.
Malid Manyuon, 37, a South Sudanese medical graduate at present finishing his internship, recalled the late Father Lee Tae-seok as he spoke about his journey. He got here to Korea in early June to hold on Lee’s dream of coaching medical doctors in South Sudan. At Wonkwang College, he attended medical lessons and spent three months honing emergency and scientific abilities, taking a significant step towards fulfilling his lifelong dream.
Gu Jin-seong, again row fourth from left, director of the Lee Tae-seok Management Academy, poses with Father Lee Tae-seok’s disciples throughout a go to at Namyangju Hanyang Hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 27. Korea Occasions photograph by Jang Ryeon-seong
9 South Sudanese medical doctors who had been impressed to pursue medication after encountering Lee lately got here to the house nation of their mentor. Whereas a few of Lee’s former medical college students have visited Korea individually, this was the primary time a bunch had come by means of a scholarship program run by the Lee Tae-seok Basis. Close to the tip of their coaching, the Hankook Ilbo met the 9 medical doctors on Aug. 27 at Namyangju Hanyang Hospital in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, the place they had been immersed in hands-on scientific coaching.
Their expertise with Korea’s superior medical system solely made them assume extra deeply in regards to the harsh realities of well being care in South Sudan.
South Sudan’s per capita gross home product stood at $470 in 2025, rating it 215th on the planet and among the many lowest-income international locations. Maternal, new child and under-5 mortality charges are among the many highest on the planet, whereas malaria alone claims about 4,350 lives annually.
Even on the College of Juba, the nation’s largest medical faculty, there are not any magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scanners. The one imaging tools obtainable is an X-ray machine that’s damaged and left unused. A number of the 9 medical doctors stated that they had by no means even worn surgical gloves earlier than coming to Korea for his or her coaching.
When poor medical infrastructure is a part of on a regular basis life, it may be troublesome even to acknowledge what’s lacking.
Manyuon skilled the hole in well being care infrastructure firsthand when he collapsed from acute appendicitis only one month after arriving in Korea.
“In South Sudan, appendicitis generally is a harmful illness due to issues,” he stated. “However in Korea, I underwent laparoscopic surgical procedure and was discharged inside per week with just about no scar.”
Father Lee Tae-seok’s disciples study a 3D cerebral angiography system at Namyangju Hanyang Hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 27. Korea Occasions photograph by Jang Ryeon-seong
Though every of the younger medical doctors has a special story, they share a single aim: to enhance their nation’s desperately underdeveloped well being care system.
Dal, 40, the oldest member of the group, was significantly injured in a bicycle accident in 2008. Lee handled him and helped assist his training. The expertise impressed him to pursue a profession in obstetrics and gynecology in order that he may assist save each moms and their infants.
“Once I return house, I’ll actively urge the federal government to herald the medical tools we’d like,” Dal stated.
Peter Kuer, 34, who graduated on the high of his class from the College of Juba’s medical faculty, hopes to develop into a surgeon.
“There are so few medical doctors in South Sudan that one physician has to look after between 25,000 and 50,000 sufferers, in contrast with about 390 sufferers per physician in Korea,” he stated. “Above all, we urgently want surgeons who can rapidly stabilize emergency sufferers and perform the mandatory operations.”
He added, “Many emergency sufferers might be saved if we had correct emergency tools and primary medical gadgets comparable to endoscopes.”
From left, South Sudanese medical doctors Peter Kur, Dal and Manyuon Malid Manyuon Ater converse throughout a Hankook Ilbo interview at Namyangju Hanyang Hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 27. Korea Occasions photograph by Jang Ryeon-seong
The Lee Tae-seok Basis can also be specializing in creating specialists able to performing precise surgical procedures, somewhat than merely coaching common practitioners.
Koo Jin-sung, director of the Lee Tae-seok Management Academy and a board member of the Lee Tae-seok Basis, which organized the scholarship program, stated the primary group of younger medical doctors was chosen primarily from graduates of Don Bosco Excessive College, the place Lee as soon as labored.
“Due to the civil conflict, a few of them fell greater than 5 years behind of their training,” Koo stated. “We chosen these younger medical doctors, significantly those that attended Don Bosco Excessive College, which was carefully related to Father Lee.”
He added, “We hope Father Lee’s spirit of service will likely be carried on to the subsequent technology.”
The 9 younger medical doctors will board a flight house on Sept. 2, carrying with them the reminiscence of Lee’s dedication and the superior medical abilities they acquired in Korea.
Father Lee Tae-seok / Yonhap
Father Lee Tae-seok (1962-2010), Catholic priest and doctor
Lee was a Catholic priest and doctor who was despatched to Tonj, in present-day South Sudan, in 2001. He devoted himself to offering medical care and training to native communities.
He established a hospital to deal with sufferers, based a faculty to teach kids and fashioned a brass band, utilizing music to convey hope to younger individuals. He grew to become often known as the “Schweitzer of Tonj,” after Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning doctor and humanitarian.
Following his dying in 2010, Lee was posthumously awarded Korea’s Order of Civil Benefit, Mugunghwa Medal.
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Occasions, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Occasions.
