Secretary General-elect of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon takes the oath of office in the General Assembly Hall, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006, at the United Nations headquarters. Ban will not officially start his new job until Jan. 1, when he will become the eighth secretary-general of the 192-nation world body. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)



[Editorial] Busan Municipal Mental Hospital to Cancel
Consignment Contract

Inspections by the national human rights association have revealed conditions that are too hard to believe at the Busan Municipal Mental Hospital and the Dae-nam Hospital. Not to mention violating the human rights of the inpatients, it is also said that they have been disregarding regulations with nonchalance in the operation of the institutions. The crippled operating conditions of the mental hospitals that have been brought forward all along are now verified by the intervention of the national human rights association.

The current issues are the duties performed by the management and supervision institutions up to now. Unlike other general private hospitals, the Busan Municipal Mental Hospital is a public hospital that is operated by consignment from the city. It is an institution to provide mental health services on behalf of the city and paid for by tax revenues from Busan residents. Busan City and the Sa-sang district are obligated to thoroughly carry out management and supervision. The primary responsibility for the crippled operation of the two hospitals is upon the hospital officials. However, the extensive and frequent violations of human rights and illegal operations are due to negligence in management and supervision. Therefore, it is reasonable that the national human rights association accused and warned Busan and the Sa-sang office for failures of supervision.

Furthermore, it was asserted that the executive director of the Dae-nam Hospital, who is consigned to operate the Busan Municipal Mental Hospital, donated fifty million won to candidate Huh Nam Sik in the name of ten managers of the hospital and businesses prior to the May local election. Accordingly, he was charged by the public prosecutor for violating the Political Fund Law. The consignment contract for the municipal mental hospitals is renewed every three years. The latest contract was concluded in June last year when Mayor Huh was in office. The executive director of the hospital has now been arrested on accusations of embezzling 5.2 billion won of hospital money. He is morally and operationally not suitable for managing the municipal mental hospitals.

What the Busan City should work on at present is obvious. They should cancel the consignment contract with the municipal mental hospital through the relevant procedure just as advised by the national human rights association. Additionally with this incident aside, an inspection over all the specialized mental hospitals and mental treatment institutes in the Busan region is seriously needed.
/ 입력시간: 2006. 12.15. 08:51