[2023 Budget] MFDS Allocates 669.4 Billion KRW, 5.4 Billion KRW Increase from Last Year

Focus on Strengthening Food Safety Management and Supporting Digital Health Innovation Growth

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 31st that the budget for next year has been set at 669.4 billion KRW. This is an increase of 5.4 billion KRW (0.8%) compared to this year's budget (664 billion KRW).

The Ministry explained, "Although the budget size did not increase significantly due to the government's sound fiscal policy, the budget was prepared focusing on the thorough implementation of the new government's national tasks such as strengthening food safety management, supporting biohealth innovation growth, and preparing for the future in the food and drug new industry sector."

The budget for next year allocates 231.9 billion KRW for creating safe food and a healthy dietary environment, 174 billion KRW for expanding the foundation for biohealth safety management and innovation growth, 14.2 billion KRW for establishing a stable supply system for essential medicines, and 37 billion KRW for expanding regulatory science research to lead future safety regulations.

Specifically, 2.3 billion KRW will be invested to expand the 'Social Welfare Meal Management Support Centers,' which manage nutrition and hygiene for the elderly and disabled, from the current 19 centers to 44. Through this, the Ministry expects that meal management will become more systematic in small-scale social welfare facilities for the elderly and disabled, where hiring nutritionists is not mandatory.

Additionally, 59.2 billion KRW has been allocated to operate 236 Meal Management Support Centers for children's nutrition and hygiene management and to conduct the 'Dietary Safety Index' survey to evaluate children's dietary safety and nutritional levels, realizing the national task of 'Redesigning the K-Meal Hygiene and Nutrition Management System.'

Efforts will also be made to strengthen verification of adverse drug reactions by establishing a common data model collection system for collecting and analyzing real-world data from medical institutions and conducting long-term follow-up investigations of human implantable medical devices.

Furthermore, to ensure timely and stable supply of rare and essential medicines to patients in need, the plan includes maintaining appropriate stock levels of rare medicines and expanding government-led consignment production of essential medicines that have been discontinued domestically due to low demand. A budget of 4.6 billion KRW has been allocated for this.

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