During a comprehensive audit by the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, the Health Ministry faced criticism over the flawed and illegal process of selecting a site for the National Dental Research Institute. Lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party, representing the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, accused the ministry of conducting a biased study aimed at favoring a specific area and called for a thorough investigation by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
At the audit held on the morning of October 27, Reps. Kim Ki-woong and Lee Dal-hee pointed out procedural violations in the second research contract awarded by the ministry to develop evaluation criteria for the site selection.
Rep. Kim Ki-woong alleged, "The ministry excluded specialized institutions like the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, which handled the first contract, and instead awarded the second contract to the Korea Health Promotion Institute, which has no relevant research experience in dentistry or site evaluation over the past decade."
He further criticized the ministry for failing to obtain necessary estimates from other institutions before the contract and for retroactively including them in a formal manner, indicating clear signs of document forgery and breach of duty.
A more significant issue was the poor execution of the study. Kim stated, "The Health Promotion Institute unilaterally altered the budget details six months into the research period, diverting 22 million won into an 'other' category not specified in the National Research and Development Act, and subcontracted this to a single urban engineer unrelated to the dental field, who produced a site evaluation report in less than two months."
As a result, critical factors such as 'related research density' and 'clinical infrastructure' were significantly downplayed, while irrelevant metrics like 'accessibility to KTX stations' and 'GRDP income levels' received the highest scores, leading to absurd evaluation criteria.
Kim urged Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong to reconsider the process, stating, "This is a serious crime that warrants not just internal audits but also requests for audits by the Board of Audit and Inspection and criminal investigations."
Rep. Lee Dal-hee joined in, highlighting Daegu's rich infrastructure and criticizing the ministry's hasty administration.
Lee noted, "The purpose of establishing the National Dental Research Institute is to advance dental R&D, standardization, industrialization, and international expansion. Daegu has been actively pursuing related initiatives for over a decade and is a leader in the number of dental-related companies (43) and exports of dental medical devices."
According to Lee, Daegu hosts 12 national research institutions, five general hospitals, and 2,694 dental students. Additionally, nearly 40 billion won has already been invested in local dental industry platforms through the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
Lee emphasized, "Daegu has the optimal infrastructure for immediate industrialization of research outcomes, yet the ministry's report shows clear signs of manipulating criteria to favor a specific region. Selecting a site based on such illegal study results is a waste of taxpayer money."
When Minister Jeong stated, "We will first verify the facts regarding the research process. There was no intention to favor a specific region," Lee responded, "After nearly a month of requesting materials and raising numerous issues, saying you will verify the facts now is merely a delay tactic that deceives the National Assembly."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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