A doctor from the Ryugyong General Ophthalmic Hospital took the floor at the 17th National Experience-sharing Meeting of the Public Health Workers, which was held in November last year amid the interest and expectation of the public health workers of the country.
Her name is Hong Il Ok. Her speech was too short, compared with the 18 years she had devoted to the treatment of the eyes of the children until her 40s from her maidenhood.
The audience was moved to hear that she had unswervingly followed the road with a firm resolve to restore sight of the blind who were standing at the crossroads of darkness or light.
Eyes are directly related with dream, ideal and vitality of human beings. So she had been much concerned with recovering the sight of the people.
In those years she had conducted 1 500-odd operations including scores of difficult ones, and treated the eye diseases of over 34 000 children.
Among them is a child living in Sosong District.
Seven years ago, a five-year-old child came to the children’s eye department with her mother.
She was beautiful and good at singing, but one of her eyes was on the lateral side.
She was diagnosed to be suffering from the complication of esotropia and special strabismus caused by the paralysis of musculus obliqus superioris.
Hong had already accumulated to some extent experience of treating patients with strabismus, but she felt as if she were a beginner in the field of ophthalmology in front of the girl.
To be successful in the treatment, an operation of turning down musculus obliqus superioris was the best option. But she had no experience of conducting such an operation except that she had once read about it in literature.
Even though it was the first-ever operation of high degree of difficulty, she decided to succeed in the operation without fail and at its first attempt. She studied medical literatures, had animal experiments and repeated simulation operation, so that she could be perfectly accustomed to each step of operation.
On the very day of the operation she observed the exact value of correction prescribed in her operation plan, overcoming the psychological stress in the operation that needs no allowance of deflection of 0.1mm. After the operation she sutured the operated part with utmost care.
All the coworkers in the operation kept step with her, and supported the operation promptly and correctly lest even a minor accidental symptom would occur.
On the next day of the operation she unwrapped the bandage around the patient’s head and looked into the shining apple of her eye. She exclaimed in delight beyond herself, embracing the child.
She was very pleased to think that she finally recovered the eye of a young girl and she succeeded in the operation.
When the girl was leaving the hospital, she, pointing at the front wall of the hospital, said: The respected Marshal Kim Jong Un saw to it that a clear apple of eye was depicted on that wall. That clear apple of eye has been implanted in your pretty eye. Please sing of his affection and solicitude to your heart’s content.
It was a statement she made to herself.
She had devoted herself to treating the blind children with a firm resolve to bring into bloom the affection of Kim Jong Un who had the wonderful hospital built for the people.
She said on the podium of the meeting:
I am firmly resolved to help our lovely children see with pleasure the benevolent image of the respected Marshal Kim Jong Un every day, who loves the children most, and the beautiful motherland with their own eyes.
