Ministry of SMEs and Startups-Gangwon Province Begin Demonstration of 'Untact Medical Care' in Regulatory Free Zone

Source=Ministry of SMEs and Startups

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daeseop] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 26th that it will officially begin the non-face-to-face medical demonstration project under the Digital Healthcare Regulatory Sandbox in Gangwon Province.

The demonstration period for this non-face-to-face medical project is from the 27th of this month until July 2021. The demonstration targets are 200 patients each with diabetes and hypertension. The Gangwon Digital Healthcare Regulatory Sandbox project was designated last July.

Approximately 30 returning patients with diabetes and hypertension living in remote areas within Gangwon Province will be prioritized to receive mobile healthcare devices equipped with Bluetooth functionality (medical devices for measuring diabetes and blood pressure). Patients will transmit their daily blood sugar and blood pressure data to their attending physicians remotely via an application.

Physicians will provide more accurate diagnosis and prescription services by monitoring the accumulated medical information of patients daily. Additionally, patients are expected to gain psychological stability from daily remote monitoring by doctors, thereby enhancing the trust relationship between patients and physicians.

To ensure the safety of the non-face-to-face medical demonstration, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Gangwon Province required participating companies and hospitals to subscribe to liability insurance for user protection. They also thoroughly implemented strict prior procedures related to safety, including prior review by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) on the demonstration content, user notification, and self-review by the Gangwon Province Safety Inspection Committee.

Until now, direct non-face-to-face medical acts between doctors and patients were prohibited in the private sector due to medical law (Article 34 on telemedicine) regulations. However, by temporarily relaxing regulations through the designation of the Regulatory Sandbox, this project is significant as it promotes the first non-face-to-face medical demonstration centered on primary medical institutions in the domestic private sector.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Gangwon Province plan to verify the stability and effectiveness of the medical information collection system through this demonstration. Primary medical institutions will utilize the collected information for both non-face-to-face and face-to-face medical care. Furthermore, the demonstration results accumulated through remote monitoring between doctors and patients will be reflected in more advanced demonstrations and the establishment of non-face-to-face medical policies.

Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, stated, "By closely cooperating with Gangwon Province and promoting the Regulatory Sandbox demonstration successfully through communication and dialogue among stakeholders in non-face-to-face medical care, we will strive to improve the low medical accessibility of residents in Gangwon Province, which has many remote areas, and to help the medical device industry take a leap forward."

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