A study on the medical system and policies of Jeju-mok in the Joseon Dynasty

During the Joseon Dynasty, Jeju had a unique aspect that differentiated it from other regions in terms of their medical system, such as the exclusive deployment of shimyak dispatched to Gamyeong and Barracks units due to the uniqueness of being an island. This study uses various historical sources to verify that these differences existed throughout the medical system and procedures of Jeju in the late Joseon Dynasty. The following significant conclusions were drawn: 1) Looking at the work and characters of Jejushimyak reveals the inherent limitations of Jeju medical care in the Joseon Dynasty. Compared to other regions' shimyak, Jejushimyak had two limitations: it was difficult to engage in only medicine and the quality of medical doctors declined due to the avoidance of major medical doctors' households. 2) The establishment of public health care in Jeju through Medical Cadets failed. Jeju medical science obviously played an essential role in public health care in the early 18th century. However, there was no continuity in the garden, etc. Hyangri, who was in charge of Medical Cadets, was in charge of various fragrances as needed. Thus expertise in medicine was lacking. 3) The cultivated herbs of Jeju's herb field show the failure to supply herbs for institutional medicine. It was impossible to supply enough herbs to implement institutional medicine in Jeju. In that case, it would have been necessary to discover alternative local herbs or to bring them in from outside, but there was barely any such effort. In conclusion, in the late Joseon Dynasty, Jeju failed to establish a foundation for centrally administered institutional medicine. There was a lack of all the entities that provided medical care and herbs that could be used for medical care. The reason that Jeju continued to follow traditional shaman medicine in the late Joseon Dynasty was because there was no other alternative.

조선시대 제주목의 의료제도 및 의정(醫政)