WOODO, South Korea — Jeoung Byeong-deok recalled how a grateful old woman waited on the pier to say goodbye as her ship left the island.
“It’s the kind of thing that makes you proud that you’re doing something good,” he said.
Jeoung, 57, is the captain of the 128-tonne Jeonnam 511, one of five government-operated hospital ships in South Korea that provide free medical services to hundreds of islands scattered on the south and west coasts of the country.
The boats have been in operation for decades, but their need has increased in recent years. The islands, like the rest of South Korea’s rural areas, have seen their population dwindle rapidly as the country grapples with a demographic crisis.
There are no doctors on the islands. Older residents, most 60 and over, are cut off from the mainland, separated from the nearest hospitals by miles of raging waters. The only regular medical services come with the hospital ships, which visit the islands once a month or once every three months.
“The ship has a life jacket with it,” said Park Ok-hee, 63, a resident of Woodo, an island off the southern coast. “It is not easy, especially for older people, to travel to the mainland to see a doctor.”
On a bright summer day, Jeoung led the Jeonnam 511 to Woodo, one of 77 islands off the southern coast that covers his crew of 14, including five doctors and nurses. The Woodo pier was too small for the Jeonnam 511, so the doctors and nurses transferred to a small boat to reach their 27 patients, all over the age of 60.
“Most of their ailments, like back pain and arthritic fingers, have to do with a lifetime of hard work, collecting cockles and oysters from the marshes,” said Kim Gwang-jin, 25, a doctor at the jeonnam 511.
Goheung County, which includes Woodo, had 95,960 residents in 2001, 20 percent of them over the age of 65. Now, it has just 62,442, with 43 percent of them older than 65.
Woodo has a population of 100 inhabitants, against 152 in 2001. Residents say they feel more isolated than other islands.
Twice a day in Woodo, the sea parts for a few hours at low tide, revealing a 1.6-kilometre-long submerged concrete road, barely wide enough for a car.
Villagers who have business on the mainland should go quickly and return before the water rises again.
The natural phenomenon turned Woodo into “neither island nor mainland”, as the residents like to say. So the South Korean government has never built a bridge or operated a ferry service to Woodo.
For the elderly islanders, the hospital ship is one of the few links they have with the outside world, one of the signs that they have not been forgotten.
During the doctors’ visit, the patients lay on mattresses with their backs or knees stuck with acupuncture needles that they hope will relieve their pain.
Hospital ships cannot perform serious surgeries, but doctors try to identify ailments that require visits to hospitals on the mainland. They provide prescription drugs and small bags of medical supplies for the home.
The ships have a modest dental office and other mini-clinics and also offer heat therapy and acupuncture.
Although the medical service is free, since the Government covers the cost, patients insist on expressing their appreciation by bringing food to doctors and nurses. Fish, abalone, mussels, garlic, lettuce and pepper.
“People are very kind, because they know that we have come a long way to care for them,” said 25-year-old internist Shin Hyeon-woo.
By: CHOE SANG-HUN
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6545258, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-01-25 21:40:07
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