Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, visited Pyongyang General Hospital nearing completion on September 23.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was accompanied by Jo Yong Won, secretary of the Central Committee of the WPK, Ju Chang Il, Kim Jae Ryong and Kim Yong Su, department directors of the Central Committee of the WPK, and officials in the field of public health.

He was greeted on the spot by leading members of the hospital and construction and design units.

He went round various places of the hospital including the image diagnosis department, emergency department, general experimental test department, such specialized treatment departments as the dental department and internal intensive treatment department, a general operating theatre, inpatient ward, conference hall and helipad.

We have paid close attention to fixing architectural aspects in a way that all spatial environments starting from design in hospital construction can beneficially work on the physical and mental health and treatment for people, he said, noting that it is important to provide patients with a treatment environment and conditions that ensure their mental and psychological stability, since treatment and complete recovery are the core at hospitals. He appreciated that the interior and exterior of Pyongyang General Hospital are unique and refined in the architectural aspect and that various colours which can enhance visibility and formative beauty have been combined well to give the feelings of modernity and comfort.

Learning in detail about the interior finish and preparations for medical service of the hospital, he said it is great progress made in our design field that the primary attention has been paid to ensuring the smooth medical treatment plan, ranging from the placement of facilities and composition of space to the flow relation and the plane structure of individual rooms. He made a satisfactory appreciation of the fact that the hospital’s level of functionality and specialization is high and the spatial and functional connectivity has been ensured wonderfully.

The hospital facilities and treatment equipment should be good, but the important thing is the medical forces, he said, adding that as there is a saying that cure is brought about by both medicine and sincerity, the main thing in treatment is the high level of medical practices and devotion of a doctor in charge of a patient. He gave an instruction to prepare all the medical workers and nurses well so that they would devote their all to the treatment with warm human love as well as professional qualifications.

Saying that three modern city and county hospitals are to be inaugurated at the end of this year and the beginning of next year and 20 regional hospitals to be built every year from next year according to the Party's policy on regional development, he stressed that Pyongyang General Hospital ought to play a key and leading role in implementing the policy on the revolution in public health set forth by the Party which intends to rebuild and dramatically develop the country's public health on an advanced foundation.

He clarified a series of important tasks such as the issues of renewing some architectural styles in future hospital designs, working out detailed designs for every element according to a long-term development plan and exactly predicting and reflecting the future demands and changes in the designs.

He said that it is needed to build an advanced and efficient digital medical service network and medical treatment system in city and county hospitals like Pyongyang General Hospital which put the whole course of its management and medical service on an IT and intelligent basis. He noted it is important to establish a nationwide public health and medical service infrastructure comprising central hospitals, provincial, city and county hospitals and even individual families.