There is a man who is called the Korean Schweitzer, but his real name is Chang Keeryo. He was a very special HERO in Busan.

He was born in a small city near Pyongyang, North Korea in 1911.

But back in 1911, South Korea and North Korea’s relationship was not what it is like today since this was before the Korean War (1950-1953).

In 1928, Chang Keeryo attended Kyungsung Medical School, which was the first westernized medical school to train Korean doctors. The school was founded in 1899, which was also the final year of the Joseon Dynasty.

However, things started to change in 1910, when Korea was under Japanese rule.

Beginning that year, many Japanese surgeons came to Korea to be professors at Kyungsung Medical School. It became very difficult for Koreans to find work being a professor. Equally difficult was the acceptance of Korean students at Kyungsung Medical School because Japanese professors favored Japanese students.

Chang Keeryo was one of the very few Korean medical students to attend the school. Later, he went on to graduate at the top of his class in 1932.

That year, he got married to Kim Bongsook and chose a stable career.

A few years later, he went back to school to get his Ph.D. at Nagoya University. He returned to Korea in 1945 when it became a newly freed country. As soon as he returned, he was appointed as the General Director of Pyongyang District Hospital and became a professor at Kim Ilsung Medical School.

He was the ONLY doctor who had PhD in North Korea at the time.

Everything went smoothly until the hospital where he worked was bombed during the Korean War.

After fleeing the explosion, Dr. Chang joined a group of refugees heading to Busan.

By that time, he was a father to three children and his second son was the only one who was with him. Unfortunately, his wife and two other children were left behind in North Korea.

Guess what he did first after arriving in Busan?

Well, he asked the U.S. army to let him use three of their tents. These tents were transformed into hospitals with one being called the “Gospel Hospital.” There he tended to countless refugee and homeless patients.

The Gospel Hospital later moved to the Yeongdo-gu district.

Patients from all over the country flocked to the clinic to receive care that was all paid for by Dr. Chang.

Generally, doctors make a well-deserved paycheck. However, Dr. Chang never spent money on himself. He only lived in a small rooftop room located in the hospital where he worked.

Later, he founded the Blue Cross Medical Cooperative in 1968, South Korea’s first ever medical cooperative. It was a private medical insurance program with more than 200,000 members. It wasn’t until 10 years later that the government introduced a national medical insurance program. Still, the Blue Cross Medical Cooperative is considered the best model for Korea National Insurance System.

That same year, he also founded Gospel Professional Nursing School.

Although he was already recognized as a competent surgeon, he studied with graduate students to catch up on all the up-to-date medical breakthroughs. Through such efforts, he greatly contributed to the development of medicine in Korea. He was the first one to succeeded in performing the first liver lobectomy in Korea.

But unfortunately, he lived a lonely life. He missed his wife and children so badly and always made sure to keep a photo of himself and his wife in his room. Tragically, he never had a chance to see his family again.

He passed away in 1995 at the age of 84.

To remember his devotion and hard work, “Chang Keeryo Memorial Hall” was opened on Ibagu Road (이바구길) in the Choryang-dong (초량동) area. If you are interested, please check it out.