제중원(濟衆院)의 신화와 역사 (1)

Jejungwon, its Myth and History (1)

Jejungwon(濟衆院) is the first national modern hospital in the history of Korea, and one of the earliest modern institutions. Korean(Choson, 朝鮮) government founded Jejungwon in the spring of 1885 by the order of King Kojong(高宗). From the beginning to September 1894 when the government handed over the rights of operation to Dr. Oliver R. Avison, the missionary of the board of foreign missions of the presbyterian church of the United States, Jejungwon was run exclusively by Korean government. Under the control of Korean government medical missionaries from America and Canada treated patients there, but they were not permitted to evangelize. In other words, Jejungwon was never a mission hospital until the autumn of 1894. Many studies have been performed on Jejungwon, but some of them have serious mistakes and distortions. In this paper, I will correct such mistakes and distortions to reveal the reality of Jejungwon.