The number of patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Korea exceeded 100,000 in 2021, a report showed.According to the National Health Insurance Service’s ADHD health insurance treatment status data from 2017 to 2021, the number of ADHD patients has nearly doubled from 53,05
The discussion will likely begin in earnest this month to expand reimbursement criteria for Spinraza (nusinersen), Biogen’s treatment for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).Accordingly, market watchers pay attention to whether the authorities will put Roche’s oral SMA treatment, Evysdi (risdiplam), on th
Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the government would start providing rotavirus vaccination to infants free of charge from Monday.Rotavirus, which is common in infants and young children, spreads easily through a child's hands and mouth from contaminants on diapers or toys. Th
Severe and rare disease patients vent their anger against support for hair loss treatment cost, one of the campaign pledges of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung during the last presidential election.For example, the municipal administration in Boryung, South Chungcheong Province, has begun to provide
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it will start accepting applications for the 2023 “Korean Accreditation Program for Hospitals Serving Foreign Patients (KAHF)” certification.The government started the KAHF program in 2017 to certify excellent hospitals and clinics so that foreign patients can
As the Korean government prepares to charge Covid-19 treatment, doctors called for a plan to support low-income households.“While citizens have been able to receive Covid-19 treatment free of charge until now, controversy may arise when the government changes the system where patients have to bear s
President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the government to accelerate efforts to make Korea a home of a globally competitive biotech cluster on a par with that in Boston, the U.S."We will actively consider creating a Korean version of the 'Boston Cluster' so that venture start-ups and young people can cha
Oxyracetam drugs, brain function improvement treatments that failed to prove their efficacy in clinical re-evaluation, were exited from the market eventually.On Tuesday, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety began to withdraw and discard oxiracetam treatments supplied by domestic drugmakers, saying t
President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered government officials to expand and reorganize the 24-hour pediatric emergency care system and promised that the government would spare no support in strengthening the pediatric medical system so that children can grow up healthy.Attending the policy discussion held at
The government has decided to lift the mandatory Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for entrants from China from March 1.Quarantine officials also stressed that it will drop the measure that made flights from China only arrive at Incheon Airport in March as well."The domestic Covid-19 sit
The government and ruling People Power Party are pressing harder than expected to increase the number of medical doctors. PPP, in particular, has recently raised its pressure, saying that the doctor shortage results from physicians’ “collective selfishness.”“The imbalance between the supply and dema
An appellate court has overruled the lowest court's decision and ruled in favor of a same-sex couple that filed an administrative lawsuit against the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) asking for recognition of their qualifications for the health insurance dependent policy.The ruling overturne
Korea has the optimal situation to eradicate hepatitis C because accurate tests and highly safe and effective therapies are easily available, a hepatitis expert said.John Ward, a director at the Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination (CGHE), spoke with Korea Biomedical Review in an online interv
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it would push for a revision of the medical law to mandate a certain proportion of intensive care units (ICUs) to be single-person rooms, instead of multi-person rooms.Korea has 9,190 ICUs at 167 medical institutions with more than 300 hospital beds, and 76 pe
With the misuse and abuse of narcotic painkillers emerging as a social problem in Korea, there is a lot of attention on whether non-narcotic painkillers can be a solution.Narcotic analgesics suppress pain transmission to the central nervous system for patients who see little efficacy when taking ace
The government has reemphasized the need to increase the enrollment quota at medical schools.Meeting with reporters, Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo said the government would push to increase the number of doctors and expand essential healthcare.The Yoon Suk-yeol administration has
Many things are returning to pre-Covid-19 days after lifting the indoor mask mandate, but one area fails to recover its previous vigor – HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) tests at public health centers.According to a report by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) in 2021, 443,609
Insurance benefits for Hemlibra (emicizumab), a hemophilia A treatment supplied by JW Pharmaceutical, will likely be expanded to non-antibody patients, helping to ease their financial burden.The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) held a drug benefit evaluation committee on Thursda
Two rare disease treatments – Nefecon Cap (budesonide) and Pegcetacoplan Inj -- have been designated as subject to the innovative global product on a fast track (GIFT).The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Tuesday that it designated the two drugs as Nos. 2 and 3 products subject to GIFT.GIFT is
Cancer patients are calling for insurance coverage of new anticancer drugs, such as AstraZeneca’s non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment Tagrisso and Daiichi Sankyo’s metastatic breast cancer treatment Enhertu.Both drugs have confirmed their effectiveness but have failed to overcome the high h