Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, Large maternity facility in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Pyongyang Maternity Hospital is a skyscraper-scale hospital in the North Korean capital dedicated to maternity care and women's health. The main building has a curved facade and is flanked by four additional structures, forming a large complex that also houses a breast tumor research institute.
The hospital opened on 30 July 1980, the 34th anniversary of North Korea's Law on Sex Equality, a date chosen deliberately to signal the state's commitment to women's welfare. It was later renovated and expanded, with new facilities added to keep pace with the country's official priorities in public health.
The hospital's name in Korean is P'yŏngyang Sanwŏn. About 30 percent of treatments use traditional Korean medicine, handled by the Koryo Medical Gynecology Department, with its own herbal pharmacy and units for extraction, sterilization and storage. Cupping, moxibustion and acupuncture, with or without electric charge, are common; around 60 traditional medicines were in use as of 2005.
The building is visible from several points in the city, but access for foreign visitors is strictly controlled and typically only possible as part of an organized tour. Independent entry is not an option, so any visit depends entirely on the itinerary arranged by local guides.
Fathers and relatives cannot enter the wards for the first five days after a birth; instead they use video call booths reached directly from the ground floor, with closed-circuit cameras and televisions linking them to mother and baby. The hospital states the rule is meant to prevent infections. On 20 March 2020 the 500th set of triplets was born here.
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