Draw concession from doctors on telemedicine

Korea may pride itself as an ICT powerhouse, but it is far behind in a key segment — telemedicine. It is not that Korea lacks the technology and doctoral infrastructure. The legalization of remote medical care is stalled due to strong protests from physicians. Except for Korea, telemedicine has become common in most of the 38 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The government plans to expand telehealth service from mid-December in the follow-up to the trial service since June. First-time patients will be accepted online by doctors only on holidays and after business hours. At the same time, remote locations allowed for day-time care without visiting the doctors will expand to 98 cities and counties across the country. If a patient has a record of non-contact treatment within six months, they can be cared for another illness virtually by doctors. The improvements will be a comfort to many patients who suffer many inconveniences from multiple constraints in remote medical care. We welcome the developments.

Doctors are strongly resisting the expansion of non-contact treatment after the pandemic. They still remain out of sync with public interests and oppose the spread of remote care. The Korean Medical Association (KMA), representing doctors, issued a statement demanding the withdrawal of the expansion plan. In a press conference on Wednesday, another association representing clinics across the nation also protested against the government’s move to expand the scope of telemedicine “even when the rest of the world is fast returning to the traditional in-person treatment since the pandemic is over.”

But it is the doctors who misread the global trend. In-person visits to hospitals would surely have increased after the threat of Covid-19 abated. However, few countries outlaw telemedicine. Regulations should be amended according to the technological advances. The choice should be left up to the consumers.

Doctors warn of possible medical accidents that can arise from remote diagnosis and treatment. However, such dangers can be prevented by correcting problems during the trial period. Over the last three years under Covid-19, a whopping 14.19 million patients used 3,786 virtual care, but no medical incident was officially reported.

The National Assembly must hurry to legalize telehealth services. The country cannot continue trial services indefinitely. Lawmakers must clearly set legal grounds for the legislation before it’s too late — instead of reinforcing regulations on telemedicine. Otherwise, Korea will be further away from the global medical trend toward enlarging the fields of remote analysis and treatment. Rivaling parties must come to a reasonable conclusion as soon as possible because the matter is directly related to public health.