The uinyeo system first appeared in 1406 after King Taejong ordered its establishment in the Jesaengwon (濟生院 health care centers for commoners).
[3] The proposal for establishing uinyeo originated with Heo Do (許道), a government officer who held the title of Jijesaengwonsa (知濟生院事).
Therefore, there were also many cases in which female patients died without receiving proper treatment because they felt ashamed of being examined by a male doctor.
Although Heo Do was able to influence the king's decision on establishing this female medical system, in the beginning, the only women able to practice medicine were government maidservants.
Send them to Seoul to teach bed acupuncture and medicines preparation, and those who have mastered the technique of drinking will be sent to the road hall, and the sickness of the women in the area will be fixed.
[2][7] In the end of King Seongjong's reign, while uinyeo were sent to attend parties and feasts held for official and private occasions, they were not invited along with gisaeng (female entertainers).
From that time onward, whenever a feast was held, uinyeo participated openly together with gisaeng, sitting on stone steps to the present of the king.
[2][7] When the successor King Jungjong ascended to the throne, uinyeo served as uigi (medical entertainer) at court officers' parties.
After 1510, the fifth year of the King's reign, the government prohibited uinyeo from attending parties by law several times and forced them to go back to their original mission in medicine.
[7] Due to their lowborn origin, uinyeo did not gain the same social status as male doctors and barely retained their existence as a group of the lowest class of society.