Six Months Devoted to Disabled Child

In mid-December last year, the mother of Kim Il Jong, a boy who could not control himself because of his musculoskeletal disorder due to a congenital disease and had severe speech disorder, carried his son on her back to the spinal disorders and children’s behavioural and developmental disorders treatment institute of Pyongyang University of Medical Sciences Hospital.

Kim Yong Im was surprised to see the boy as it was the first time for her to see such a patient though she had treated many children with disabilities. However, she did not hesitate to take it upon herself to treat him.

After learning about this, Maeng Yu Gyong, researcher at the clinical genetics laboratory of the university’s medical genetics institute, joined her in the treatment of the boy.

They worked out detailed plans for each stage to simultaneously treat kinetic dysfunction and speech disorders and pushed ahead with the treatment.

The training for boosting muscle strength to improve kinetic function was very difficult.

It took a lot of time and effort for the patient to perform such movements as leg lifting even once as he was weak in muscle strength and the movements were accompanied by dystonia. Whenever Yong Im repeated the movements together with him hundreds of times, her whole body was soaked with sweat. 

Meanwhile, Yu Gyong often sat up all night analysing again and again the pronunciation rules of Korean language one by one from the beginning and working out a phased treatment plan according to the course for the development of articulation.

Their painstaking research and tireless efforts brought about good results at last.

Six months after the treatment started, the boy became able to walk and in June this year he sang a song on the stage during the performance given at the Tonghung Kindergarten in Central District, Pyongyang to mark the International Children’s Day on June 1, touching the heartstrings of all the audience.