Good morning, fellow Koreans,

I just returned home yesterday afternoon after making visits to Indonesia and Thailand last week.

At the summit following the Bali Democracy Forum in Indonesia, I reaffirmed collaborative ties between Korea and Indonesia in large-scale joint investment projects that are in the works as well as cooperation in  defense industry and energy sector. Our two countries also signed an MOU on the joint development of an environmentally-friendly green car.

In the meantime, Thailand is currently working on a major river re-engineering project in the amount of US$13 billion on a nationwide scale. Last year, the country was hit by severe floods that submerged about 70 percent of its entire land area. When Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra visited Korea this year, she toured the construction sites of the four major rivers restoration project and unveiled her plan to introduce a similar policy in Thailand to prevent chronic flood damage.

Presently, Korea, China and Japan are fiercely competing with each other over the Thai project. Amidst such a situation, I engaged in in-depth discussion during my recent visit to Thailand on how to work together drawing upon Korea’s experience in carrying out its Major Rivers Restoration Project.

Fellow Koreans,

Today, I want to speak with you about new Government policies affecting public health. Beginning this month through next year, long-awaited policies will be put in place in such areas as drug sales, emergency medical services and healthcare insurance.

Effective from November 15, general household medicines essential in everyday life will be available at 24-hour convenience stores in your neighborhood. The 13 items to be sold at 15,000 convenience stores across the country include pain and fever medicines, cold medicines, digestive medicines and pain relief patches.

Those who live in small towns and villages where there is no convenience store will be able to buy them from a community health center or from a community representative like the head of a village. The new system will continue to be improved for greater public convenience. With the implementation of the new system, you can buy these drugs at any time around the clock.

These kinds of drugs have thus far been available only at pharmacies. For this reason, almost all of you who have children have probably been anxious at one time or another and felt helpless because you could not purchase necessary drugs during holidays or late at night.

The Following is what Jin Hyeong-seon, a housewife, has to say about her experience.

“When bringing up children, I have often had a hard time when they got sick. As one of my kids ran a fever one evening, I found I had fever medicine at home, but it had already expired. I had no choice but to rush to the emergency room, which was several times more expensive.”

Two years ago during the briefing by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, I sat down with officials and discussed this problem. At the briefing session, I asked them to give thought to the idea of selling over-the-counter drugs at supermarkets.

Taking medicine has a direct bearing on health and thus, in principle, has to be managed and guided by medical professionals. However, it is also important to mitigate the people’s inconvenience by allowing the sale of a limited number of medicines at convenient stores.

Many people strongly empathized with such intent and necessity, but no progress had been made over the past few decades because of special interests among the parties affected. Thanks to enhanced efforts to persuade those who have a stake in the matter and the growing public consensus following the launch of my Administration, however, it has now become possible to buy over-the-counter medicine at convenient stores. This feat marks a milestone in the history of our nation’s health and medical service. My Administration will not regard this achievement as the consummation of what we are supposed to do, but it will make further efforts to make up for any shortcomings.

This breakthrough has been made possible due to the agreement reached at the National Assembly and strong, united public support. As it has now become convenient to obtain medicine, I urge my fellow citizens to read the instructions carefully before taking medicine in order to avoid misuse, abuse and side effects.

My fellow citizens,

The Government decided to establish trauma centers at five general hospitals across the nation to prevent the loss of precious life and cut back on physical disabilities due to serious accidents.

I am sure that you all can remember Captain Seok Hae-gyun, the hero of Operation Dawn of Gulf of Aden. He suffered six gunshots from pirates and hovered between life and death. After being treated in a domestic trauma center, he miraculously recovered his health. This incident brought home to all of us the significance of the method of treatment for seriously injured patients.

When I visited the hospital to see the captain, I had chances to converse with the doctors treating him. It served as an opportunity for me to acutely realize the necessity of trauma centers. In Korea, about 30,000 people lose their lives every year due to fatal injuries resulting from car accidents, industrial accidents and fire. Around a third of them could survive if they are treated promptly.

By 2015, the Government plans to launch 17 trauma centers in the country and ensure that emergency patients receive treatment within one hour at the latest. The Administration will also invest 1 trillion won over the next five years into the implementation of basic emergency treatment programs to make certain trauma patients can get necessary medical care anytime and anywhere in the country. This represents a comprehensive reform of the nation’s emergency medical care system.

Particularly, the medical facilities in farming and fishing areas and small provincial towns will be drastically bolstered.

Here is a comment by a homemaker living in a rural area:

“My name is Yun Mi-hwa, and I''m a homemaker living in Gunwi County, North Gyeongsang Province. Since my town does not have any obstetrician or gynecologist, I had to go all the way to Daegu for medical attention. To go to Daegu, I have to change buses twice and spend three hours for the roundtrip. It is frustrating to have to travel with my baby a long distance to Daegu again and again.”

But, in the future, this kind of inconvenience will not happen. Regardless where patients live, emergency rooms, obstetricians and other essential medical services will be within convenient reach.

My fellow Koreans, next year the Government will expand health insurance benefits in an attempt to reduce medical costs. Our country’s healthcare system is excellent when compared with other countries. But it is a fact that hospital fees are burdensome to many low-income families.

As the Administration promised at the outset, the Government has already cut the level of out-of-pocket payments for cancer patients as well as MRI costs. The Go-un mom Card is helping pregnant women, supporting expenses for physical examinations and other medical fees.

From next year, insurance will cover the scaling of teeth for general population and partial dentures for senior citizens. Coverage will also be increased for major illnesses, including cancer, stroke, heart diseases and ultrasonic tests.

In monetary terms, the increased insurance benefits will amount to 1.5 trillion won, the most in history, and the increase rate of the insurance premium will be limited to 1.6 percent. Except in 2009 when the rate was frozen due to the economic crisis, this increase rate is the lowest in the last 10 years.

Because of the sound fiscal management of the national health insurance over the past five years, the Government has been able to maintain a reserve fund totaling some 4 trillion won. The fund will be a valuable resource for enhancement of public health in the next administration.

Fellow citizens, unprecedented cold waves have been predicted for the nation this winter due to climate change. The Government will do all it can to prevent various disasters that frequently occur during the turn of the year while taking preventive measures against crime.

Please, take a good care of yourselves as the weather gets colder.

Thank you very much.