Health ministry marks 10 years of Hansen's disease museum with Seoul conference

South Korea's health ministry said Friday that the Hansen's disease museum at the National Sorokdo Hospital held an academic conference in Seoul with the Korean Society for the History of Medicine to mark the museum's 10th anniversary. The meeting at the Open Hall of Korea National Open University in Jongno District took "Disease, Memory and History" as its theme.

Researchers examined the traces Hansen's disease left in human history and its social legacy from medical and historical perspectives. The conference also sought to share the value of the memories surrounding Hansen's disease and Sorokdo.

In the morning, speakers discussed a shift in the study of disease history and its broadening scope, cases of preserving and using records on Hansen's disease in Japan, and the experience of the US National Leprosy Hospital. Further presentations covered patient card records held by the National Sorokdo Hospital, historical accounts of Sorokdo and the life memories of patients, and the disease's legacy in East Asia. The afternoon session, under the heading "Disease and Humanity, Medicine and the State," presented research analysing patients' experiences of illness, their memories and their own histories.

"I hope this conference goes beyond sharing research results accumulated so far and becomes an occasion for researchers to exchange views and discover new questions and possibilities for study," said Chung Chung-hyun, director of the National Sorokdo Hospital. He added that he expected it to widen understanding of Hansen's disease patients and their lives and to pass the historical meaning on to Korean society and the next generation.

The conference was open to researchers and officials in related fields as well as to members of the public interested in disease and human history.