EBS ‘Seo Jang-hoon’s The Millionaire Next Door’
The success story of Dr. Ha Chung-sik, who began in an obstetrics and gynecology clinic with four beds and now dreams of a hospital ranked among the nation’s top five by size, has been unveiled.
On the 3rd, EBS ‘Seo Jang-hoon’s The Millionaire Next Door’ aired an episode on Ha Chung-sik titled ‘A penny-pinching doctor who saved all his life and shared 41.1 billion won’. The determined success narrative of Ha, founder of a large general hospital in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, and the unexpected day-to-day life behind the glamorous title captivated viewers. Ha is a legendary figure in Korean medicine who started from a small four-bed OB-GYN clinic and built a large general hospital with 1,008 beds. He also revealed that in 2025 he purchased an additional 5,000 pyeong of land and is pushing ahead with building a cancer hospital. When the project is completed, the total size will reach a whopping 70,000 pyeong, putting entry into the nation’s top five hospitals by scale within sight.
Raised in comfortable circumstances thanks to parents who ran a brewery, Ha entered medical school in the 1980swhen medicine was not particularly preferredwithout much deliberation. However, during his intern and resident years he faced unexpected discrimination and prejudice for being a graduate of a regional university, which led him to set the goal: “I will build the best hospital in the region, one that no one can look down on, and provide true medical care to many people.” After earning his specialist qualification, in 1994 he secured four beds inside a hospital with a little over 100 beds and opened an OB-GYN in a ‘shop-in-shop’ format; in just five months, at age 35, he achieved the feat of taking over the entire hospital. But he did not stop pursuing bigger goals. Devoting himself to practice for seven years without even taking holidays, he expanded it to 250 beds in 2001, and again in 2021 completed the current general hospital with 1,008 beds, realizing a long-held dream.
EBS ‘Seo Jang-hoon’s The Millionaire Next Door’
That day’s broadcast drew attention by revealing Ha Chung-sik’s ‘extreme frugality’ penny-pinching routine. Contrary to his glittering title as founder of a large general hospital, he wore a jacket with frayed lapels and a shirt with holes darned multiple times, and he still used a faded desk lamp his children had used in elementary school. Moreover, he regards subscribing to X Tube as a luxury, takes the stairs instead of the elevator to save energy, and even in hot weather uses a fan rather than an air conditionersurprising everyone. In particular, when Seo Jang-hoon saw him collecting small leftover pieces of soap in a sock to use them up, he could not hide his shock, asking, “Why go this far?”. To this, Ha said, “I am thoroughly strict with myself, but I do not hold back when spending on good causes.” Seo responded, “I was startled because you said exactly what I usually think,” yet added, “I work very hard too, but I cannot even come close,” clicking his tongue in amazement.
In fact, his frugality was not for himself but a choice for greater sharing. Through social-contribution efforts that began 32 years ago when he opened his OB-GYN clinic, his donations to date have exceeded 41.1 billion won. Ha said, “It was the citizens who helped the hospital grow,” adding, “It is only natural to return to the citizens as much as we have received.” He also shared the sense of mission for regional healthcare that he has harbored since becoming a doctor. He explained, “For a region to develop, it needs a good university and a good hospital,” and, “If a medical school is established, our hospital could serve as a training ground.” He continued, “My future dream is to build a cancer hospital so that local residents can receive the best treatment without having to go all the way to Seoul,” revealing a strong sense of responsibility. In line with his conviction to narrow the healthcare gap between the capital area and the provinces, he even surprised many by successfully recruiting Professor Kim Myung-hwanranked seventh in the world for pancreatic expertiseto Changwon.
EBS ‘Seo Jang-hoon’s The Millionaire Next Door’ airs every Wednesday at 9:55 p.m., and after broadcast it is also available on OTT platforms such as Netflix·Wavve.
