Launch of Advisory Group for Telemedicine Pilot Project... Including Platform Industry

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As a pilot project for non-face-to-face medical consultations begins this month, the government has formed an advisory group to gather field opinions.

On the 16th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it held the first advisory group meeting chaired by Deputy Minister Park Min-su to review the current status of the non-face-to-face medical consultation pilot project and collect suggestions for improvement. The advisory group includes not only medical and pharmaceutical organizations but also patient groups, consumer organizations, platform industry representatives, and experts.

The government decided to institutionalize non-face-to-face medical consultations, which were temporarily allowed during the COVID-19 period, and has been conducting the pilot project since the 1st of this month to fill the legislative gap. Unlike the temporary allowance period, the pilot project limits non-face-to-face consultations to follow-up patients and restricts medication delivery, which has sparked ongoing controversy.

The Telemedicine Industry Council, composed of platform industry representatives and others, stated in a position paper that "the advisory group’s top priority is to devise measures to resolve confusion in the non-face-to-face medical field and inconvenience to the public caused by the pilot project." According to them, the proportion of non-face-to-face pediatric and adolescent medical consultation requests, which had reached 19.3%, dropped to 7.3% after the transition to the pilot project. The council expressed hope that "this discussion forum will function not as a one-time event but as a consultative body that considers public demands."

Deputy Minister Park said at the meeting, "The pilot project was promoted focusing on follow-up patients and medically vulnerable groups for whom non-face-to-face consultations are unavoidable, considering the legal limitations of the pilot project since the Medical Service Act has not been amended." He added, "Based on the field opinions presented by the advisory group, we will supplement and develop the shortcomings of the pilot project and prepare for the institutionalization of non-face-to-face medical consultations."

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