Animal Medical Improvement TF Launched... Seeking Measures for 'Lower Medical Fees↓·Better Services↑'

Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Holds First TF Meeting on 'Comprehensive Measures to Improve Animal Medical Care'

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is forming a 'Task Force (TF) for Animal Medical Improvement' and will hold its first meeting on the 15th to establish a 'Comprehensive Plan for Animal Medical Improvement,' including enhancing the quality of veterinary hospital medical services.

The ministry has reflected demands to address issues such as the financial burden of veterinary hospital fees on pet owners, discrepancies in fees between hospitals, and insufficient prior notice of fees. In response, it amended the 'Veterinarian Act' in January last year and has been promoting measures to alleviate the financial burden and improve transparency in medical fees.

With the recent increase in public interest in companion animals, the demand for veterinary hospital medical services has been continuously expanding. There are ongoing calls to fundamentally improve the animal medical system to provide high-quality veterinary services that meet the expectations of pet owners, beyond just alleviating the financial burden.

Accordingly, the ministry plans to review improvement and development directions for issues raised in the field, including measures to reduce the financial burden of medical fees, establishment of a support system for dispute mediation related to veterinary medical accidents, strengthening penalties for inappropriate veterinary practices, and the introduction of specialized fields such as dentistry and a secondary hospital system.

The TF, led by Song Nam-geun, Director of Animal Welfare and Environment Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, includes about 20 external experts from veterinary medical organizations, consumer groups, animal protection organizations, and veterinary education sectors. It will operate working groups in three areas: strengthening transparency in medical fees, improving the quality of animal medical services, and enhancing support infrastructure for animal medical care. The TF plans to identify improvement tasks, gather opinions, and prepare a comprehensive plan by October this year.

Director Song stated, "While the demand for animal medical services is quantitatively expanding, the quality of services does not meet the expectations of pet owners. The TF will make multifaceted efforts to create animal medical service policies based on demand and field conditions by collecting diverse stakeholder opinions."

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