Claimed "Requested Vulva Surgery Photos"... HIRA Explains "Misunderstanding"

Demand for Pre- and Post-Surgery Photos of Gynecological Vulvar Tumors
HIRA Requests Submission of Verifiable Data Only

The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) has been accused of demanding a gynecology clinic to send photos of female patients' genitalia after removing vulvar tumors. In response, HIRA explained that the request for materials was made "to ensure fair execution."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 23rd, Dr. B, the head of a gynecology clinic A in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, posted on Facebook, "HIRA is asking us to send photos of the genitalia of our female patients who had benign vulvar tumors removed without their consent." He added, "When I protested, there was no response. Where should I report this?" Upon seeing this, Im Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Medical Association, strongly criticized, saying, "HIRA treated doctors like thieves and fraudsters, making an unreasonable demand that patients would never tolerate if they knew." Park Joo-min, chairman of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee and a member of the Democratic Party, also called it "an outrageous matter" and stated, "We will verify the facts."

However, on the 25th, HIRA issued a press release stating that under Article 96 (Provision of Materials) of the National Health Insurance Act and Article 5 (Submission of Review-Related Materials, etc.) of the Standards for Processing Review and Payment of Medical Benefits, "we are conducting the review of medical benefit costs and are requesting the submission of materials to ensure accurate and fair execution of the review." They explained, "We requested available materials among progress records, anesthesia records, surgical records, pre- and post-operative photos, and histopathological examination results, and it is not necessarily pre- and post-operative photos but materials within a verifiable scope."

Additionally, HIRA explained, "In compliance with related regulations such as Article 15 (Import and Use of Personal Information) of the Personal Information Protection Act, when requesting review reference materials, we ask for cooperation to submit only the date of birth and gender digits of the resident registration number. We strictly implement follow-up measures such as destruction after use of sensitive information within the purpose of collection."

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