Leave it to a UN organization to claim that health care in North Korea is the “envy” of the developing world:

Margaret Chan

The World Health Organization found itself Friday in the strange position of defending North Korea’s health care system from an Amnesty International report, three months after WHO’s director described medicine in the totalitarian state as the envy of the developing world.

WHO spokesman Paul Garwood insisted he wasn’t criticizing Amnesty’s work, but the public relations flap illustrated an essential quandary for aid groups in unfree states: how to help innocent people without playing into the hands of their leaders.

Amnesty’s report on Thursday described North Korea’s health care system in shambles, with doctors sometimes performing amputations without anesthesia and working by candlelight in hospitals lacking essential medicine, heat and power. It also raised questions about whether coverage is universal as it — and WHO — claimed, noting most interviewees said they or a family member had given doctors cigarettes, alcohol or money to receive medical care. And those without any of these reported that they could get no health assistance at all.

Garwood said Thursday’s report by Amnesty was mainly anecdotal, with stories dating back to 2001, and not up to the U.N. agency’s scientific approach to evaluating health care.

“All the facts are from people who aren’t in the country,” Garwood told reporters in Geneva. “There’s no science in the research.”

The issue is sensitive for WHO because its director-general, Margaret Chan, praised the communist country after a visit in April and described its health care as the “envy” of most developing nations.  [Yahoo News]

Make sure to read the whole article at the above link because the absurdity of Margaret Chan’s claims are just incredible.

If you can believe it she made her comments about health care in North Korea after a visit to only Pyongyang where she saw an abundance of health care workers.  First all how does she know all the health care workers she saw were actually health care workers?  Pyongyang is well known for putting on shows for visiting foreigners.  Secondly, how does she know what health care outside the capitol is like to make such a sweeping statement about health care in North Korea?

If you can believe this she even recognized the North Koreans for showing no signs of obesity.  Only with a UN agency would the intentional starvation of the public by its own government qualify as a good thing.

As many ROK Drop readers know I have had little good things to say about Amnesty International over the years, but I have to commend them for calling out the WHO director-general on her absurd comments about health care in North Korea.