"Remote Medical Care Excuse... Korean Medical Association Advises Doctors to Stop Phone Consultations and Prescriptions"

President Choi Dae-jip of the Korean Medical Association speaking at the COVID-19 Medical Volunteer Council held on the 4th

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The largest medical association in South Korea has advised its physician members to stop telephone consultations. This comes as a backlash against the government's plan to promote telemedicine, following the health authorities' temporary allowance of telephone consultations and prescriptions at frontline medical institutions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the 18th, the Korean Medical Association (KMA) issued a "Recommendation to All Members to Completely Cease Telephone Consultation and Prescription," stating, "Our doctors should no longer continue telephone consultations and prescriptions, which are being exploited as grounds for the unilateral and sudden introduction of non-face-to-face and remote medical care." They urged, "Starting today, all 130,000 physician members in South Korea are requested to fully stop telephone consultations and prescriptions."

Telephone consultations and prescriptions are not permitted under the current Medical Service Act, which prioritizes face-to-face treatment. However, they were temporarily allowed starting in late February when COVID-19 began to spread. This measure aimed to prevent the infectious disease from spreading primarily in frontline hospitals and clinics, and to address the decline in patient visits due to infection concerns. From February 24 to May 10, a total of approximately 260,000 telephone consultations and prescriptions were conducted, amounting to about 3.4 billion KRW.

The KMA emphasized, "The government is using the COVID-19 national disaster situation as a pretext to institutionalize so-called telemedicine and non-face-to-face medical care. This is a despicable and shameless act of betrayal, stabbing doctors who are dedicating themselves to COVID-19 and essential general medical care in the back." They further criticized, "Instead of providing sufficient support to doctors risking their lives during the COVID-19 crisis, the government is attempting to abruptly introduce non-face-to-face and remote medical care under the pretext of creating new industries and jobs, which is far removed from the essence of medical care, without consulting the medical community, the actual practitioners of medical treatment."

Telemedicine has been pursued by past governments as well, but faced opposition from the KMA and civic groups, preventing its proper implementation. The medical community, including the KMA, still sees non-face-to-face medical care as having loopholes, citing the possibility of misdiagnosis. On the 14th, KMA President Choi Dae-jip posted on Facebook, "If the government forcibly pushes this (telemedicine) through amid the COVID-19 chaos, the Korean Medical Association, and I, President Choi Dae-jip, will resolutely and firmly declare that we will risk everything and engage in 'extreme' struggle."

In the recommendation issued that day, the KMA stated, "We will evaluate the degree of compliance with this recommendation over the next week and take measures to completely stop the misuse of telephone consultations and prescriptions, as well as to block non-face-to-face and remote medical care."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.