Party and Government "Pilot Project for Non-Face-to-Face Medical Care Allows Initial Consultations for Infectious Disease, Elderly, and Remote Area Patients"

Pilot Project Meeting on Non-Face-to-Face Medical Treatment Held on the 17th
"The Principle Is Follow-Up... Initial Consultations Allowed Only in Some Exceptions for One Year"

The ruling party and the government have firmly stated that the pilot project for non-face-to-face medical consultations, starting from June 1, will be targeted "in principle at returning patients." However, initial consultations will be allowed only for patients with infectious diseases, the elderly, and those with mobility difficulties.

On the afternoon of the 17th, the People Power Party and the Ministry of Health and Welfare held a party-government consultation meeting at the National Assembly and announced this plan. Park Dae-chul, the chairman of the Policy Committee, said, "The party and government have decided to extend the temporarily operated non-face-to-face medical consultations during the COVID-19 period through a pilot project." To apply the pilot project, a grace period of three months until the end of August will be set.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, non-face-to-face medical consultations were temporarily permitted under the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, but with the infectious disease crisis level being downgraded from "serious" to "caution" starting June 1, the legal basis disappeared, putting the service at risk of suspension. Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong explained, "If the COVID-19 crisis level is downgraded, non-face-to-face medical consultations themselves will become illegal," adding, "It will take time to institutionalize this, and the pilot project is being promoted to fill the gap in the meantime."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Park explained, "The pilot project targets are, in principle, returning patients who have previously experienced face-to-face consultations," adding, "However, exceptions will be made for infectious disease confirmed patients who find it difficult to visit hospitals, elderly and disabled patients with mobility difficulties, patients in islands or remote areas where medical institutions are severely lacking or absent, allowing them to receive non-face-to-face consultations from the initial visit."

Participating medical institutions will be primarily at the clinic level, but hospital-level institutions will be allowed as exceptions. Chairman Park stated, "For the allowed hospital-level institutions, the pilot project will apply to rare disease patients who have had at least one face-to-face consultation at the institution, and patients whom doctors judge require continuous management after surgical treatment."

Pharmacies will also participate in the non-face-to-face medical consultation pilot project. Chairman Park said, "The basic principle for receiving medications will be that the patient receives them personally or through a guardian or acquaintance acting as a proxy," adding, "However, supplementary measures will be devised for elderly and disabled patients with mobility difficulties and infectious disease confirmed patients."

The party and government announced that they will continuously gather various opinions and explore future measures even during the pilot project after today's consultation. Chairman Park explained, "During the pilot project, the system will be periodically evaluated and continuously supplemented regarding the scope of target patients, expansion of initial consultations, and medication receipt methods."

He added, "The party will actively work on revising the Medical Service Act so that non-face-to-face medical consultations can become a regular system for promoting public health."

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