Health Officials Faulted

The Board of Audit and Inspection announced Thursday it will take disciplinary action against a number of officials at the Ministry of Health and Welfare for alleged dereliction of duty.

Board officials said they have secured specific evidence that directors at the ministry seriously underestimated the cost of medical reforms because they did not examine the data available to them carefully.

"We have tentatively ruled that the crisis in the nation's health care finances was brought about by poor preparation and examination of the facts prior to implementing medical reforms," a board official said on condition of anonymity.

But the official said the agency could not confirm whether the action was intentional.

The board is scheduled to meet Monday to decide how the officials will be punished.

The official said the board also found Cha Heung-bong, then minister of health and welfare, responsible for the debacle, but added "it is difficult to hold a political appointee criminally accountable."

The medical reforms, which strictly separate the roles of physicians and pharmacists, were launched in August 2000 in order to end the overlapping of duties between the two professions and the widespread misuse of prescription drugs.

Despite a general consensus on the need for the reform, the program faced vehement resistance from both doctors and druggists, who said their standard of living was threatened by the reforms. The government persuaded the two groups to stop obstructing the program by raising the reimbursement fees they received from the National Health Insurance Corporation.

About eight months after the reform program took effect, the government acknowledged the health insurance system would run a 4 trillion won ($3 billion) deficit this year and ordered the ministry to come up with a way to save the health care program.

by Choi Ik-jae