Doctors protest telemedicine plan

Doctors, nurses and pharmacists on Wednesday protested the government’s plan to introduce telemedicine, saying the new practice would threaten businesses, jobs and the quality of medical service.

“Telemedicine would lower the quality of medical service and jeopardize operations of local clinics and regional hospitals,” the groups said in a joint news conference.

“The introduction of the technology will cut at least 50,000 jobs in the medical service industry,” they said.

The event was joined by five groups: the Korea Medical Association, the Association of Korean Medicine, The Korea Pharmaceutical Association and the Korean Nurses Association.

The KMA, a lobby group for physicians, said it will take collective action on Dec. 15 to protest against the government’s medical policies.

The statement came a month after the Ministry of Health and Welfare released a final plan to start telemedicine in 2015.

Telemedicine refers to the use of information-communication technologies for the delivery of clinical care. The government believes that the technology would improve the medical welfare of the public and curb medical costs, while doctors worry that it would kill operations of local clinics and regional hospitals.

Medical experts also lambasted the ministry’s plan to approve for-profit hospitals, saying the plan would create a divide in health care provision and dismantle the public health insurance program. Despite doctors’ resistance, the government has been pushing for a plan to allow operations of foreign and for-profit hospitals in the country’s six free economic zones.

Doctors criticized that the government has been pushing these medical-related policies unilaterally without consulting with medical experts and civic groups.

They demanded the government separate the “health” division from the current ministry of health and welfare, saying that officials lack fundamental insight to the medical industry.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)