North Korean health system is a horrific story, reports say

Reports by Amnesty International paint a very dark picture of the health care system in the communist nation of North Korea. Some gruesome stories depict amputations without anesthesia and operations done under candlelight.

Amnesty International is urging nearby countries to send aid for the North Korean citizens, which live in a hellish and bleak environment. However, North Korea will not cooperate with the organization in order to receive proper aid for their people and continue to push their citizens into a destitute lifestyle. It is a double-edged sword that many do not wish to take part in. Refugees who manage to escape from North Korea retell their stories of how life really is, always contradicting whatever officials hired by the North Korean government say to spread propaganda. Right now, North Korea declares that none of their people have to pay for health care. However, it is a much different tale from the people themselves. Amnesty International reports that people have had to pay for health care since 1990, but, people have increasingly become poorer--to the point that, a refugee says in their own words, "If you don't have any money, you die." It is estimated that North Korea spends less on health care for their people per capita than any other country in the entire world. The World Health Organization show latest reports that say Pyongyang spend less than one dollar per person each year. Most doctors in North Korea, as reported at AOL News, are not paid a salary but rather given rations such as food, cigarettes and alcohol for their efforts. Major surgeries require actual money, but again, that is a rarity in this recluse nation. Many hospitals usually strap down their patients, in an archaic practice, to undergo surgeries such as amputations where they use no anesthesia. Simplistic surgeries in other countries, such as removing an appendix, become a life or death struggle. Amnesty International quoted a twenty-four year old escapee who fell from a train and broke his ankle. The doctor amputated his left leg from the calf down because of it. The man said, "...I was in so much pain that I screamed and eventually fainted from pain. I woke up one week later in a hospital bed." Because of such horror stories from hospitals, most North Koreans will travel to their local market to use unregulated medicines and 'cure-all's' to help with their health issues. It is common for people to have wrong dosages. Recently, a dangerous pain-killer was banned from North Korea that was being used as a type of pain reliever from muscle aches to cold-like symptoms. Meanwhile, food is still a very scarce thing to come by in North Korea. Foraging is a very common practice, as AOL News writes through an addendum of the Amnesty International report. Bark, grass and other such 'staple foods' account for thirty percent of the diet of a North Korean. Famines and food shortages have been common since the mid-1990's, doubly so with the recent global rise in food prices. "The North Korean people are in critical need of medical and food aid," Catharine Baber, deputy director of the Asian-Pacific for Amnesty International, said. "It is crucial that aid to North Korea is not used as a political football by donor countries."