Hoechundang Kyunghee Ryu Korean Medicine Clinic values both the continuity of care that has been carried on since 1904 and the experience accumulated in university-hospital Korean medicine care and research settings. Among these, Dr. Bongha Ryu, Honorary Director, has a history of serving as director of the Korean Medicine Hospital at Kyung Hee University Medical Center, where he closely led clinical Korean medicine care, research on herbal medicine formulations, and systems for herbal material quality control.
At that time, the Korean Medicine Hospital at Kyung Hee University Medical Center was an institution where multiple specialized departments formed a collaborative care system, and many Korean medicine doctors and residents were responsible for outpatient and inpatient care. Based on subdivided clinical areas such as Korean internal medicine, Sasang constitutional medicine, and acupuncture and moxibustion, a system was operated to examine a wide range of conditions from a Korean medicine perspective.
In 2006, a foundation for herbal medicine research was established, and various herbal medicine formulations were studied and used with consideration for ease of use and dosage-form improvement. Efforts continued to apply Korean medicine prescribing principles to modern dosage forms in areas such as throat discomfort, low energy, intestinal health, and weight management.
Herbal material management was also an important pillar. Because many different herbs are used, a process was needed to check safety-related items such as harmful heavy metals, pesticide residues, and residual sulfur dioxide. Manufacturing steps such as extraction temperature and time, filtration, and drying were also refined while considering both Korean medicine principles and modern management standards.
There were also efforts to explain and review Korean medicine within a broader medical environment, including academic exchanges with overseas universities, operation of overseas medical institutions, and establishment of systems for treating international patients. Hoechundang will reflect on these experiences without exaggeration, and in today’s care we will continue to uphold the basics: thorough history-taking and examination, safe use of herbal medicine, and prescribing principles tailored to each patient’s condition.