The Korean National Tuberculosis Association (President: Kyung-Ho Lee) concluded an agreement to promote the Mongolian Spinal Tuberculosis Project with the L&K Biomed (CEO: Kook-Jin Kang) and Suwon Wills Memorial Hospital Director Chun-Keun Park) on Wednesday, May 17 in its conference room.
According to the National Tuberculosis Data released by the World Health Organization in 2015, a total of 4,935 patients with TB (of which about 40% had the disease found in organs other than the lung) were found in Mongolia. In Mongolia, the incidence of extra pulmonary TB is much higher than in other countries. More than one third of the pulmonary TB in the country is estimated to be spinal TB, and more than 500 patients are additionally being detected annually.
To address this problem, the Korean National Tuberculosis Association in cooperation with L&K Biomed and Suwon Wills Memorial Hospital has invited five Mongolian patients with spinal TB to Korea for free spinal surgery; they also support aftercare and rehabilitation in association with Mongolia National Center for Communicable Diseases and private medical institutions.
Korea Tuberculosis Association president Man-Ho Kyung said, "This project is meaningful in that it gives Mongolian TB patients the hope for healthy life, and the Mongolian medical personnel the opportunity to learn from outstanding tools and techniques of Korea."
For this project, L&K BioMed will donate a total of USD 300,000, and Suwon Wills Memorial Hospital will support all surgical procedures for patients with spine TB and the training for invited medical personnel. The Association is responsible for the planning and operation of the overall project as an agency for the implementation of this spinal TB support project, and is planning to cooperate with local Mongolian medical institutions to promote this project.