An animated film, “The Old Man Z,” was released in Japan in 1991.The plot of the movie is as follows. Because of the serious population aging, Japan suffers from an absolute shortage of nursing hospitals and caregivers. Therefore, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor developed the state-of-the-
The accident and sickness allowance is a system that compensates for income so that workers can focus on treatment if they have difficulty conducting economic activities due to injuries or diseases unrelated to their work.This system is considered an important social safety net because it responds t
There are many food stories that sound factual but are actually myths. One good example of a myth is asking people to wait for about two minutes after opening a canned coffee. The apparent logic here is that leaving it open for around two to five minutes could reduce the furan levels in a canned cof
It’s already been nearly a decade since I began to attend the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nev. However, it was more than three decades ago that I first got interested in the annual gathering of global appliance makers and their cutting-edge products.CES, which made it
“There are over 10,000 rare diseases but how many of them have a cure?” When I introduce the diagnosis of rare diseases, I often get questions about treatment. I tend to give the general answer that therapies are being developed for about 5 percent of rare diseases, and there is no cure for 95 perce
Korea is often called “a society of distrust” or “a society of conflicts.” Distrust runs deep in existing systems including the state, media, business, and civic groups. Accordingly, social conflicts occur frequently across the boundaries of political ideologies, regions, and generations. Recent con
Global Bio Conference (GBC) 2022 ended its three-day run on Wednesday.According to the conference organizers, the GBC, hosted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), aims to set the stage for active communication aiming to lead a balanced international regulatory environment.The conference p
Like its predecessors, the Yoon Suk-yeol government made an ambitious promise to ease regulations to revitalize corporate activities.When Yoon was president-elect in March, he pledged to make a hotline to communicate with business lobby groups directly. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo also showed his st
Cancer is thought to be synonymous with death and suffering. Therefore, it is easy to find cancer patients among our family and friends.According to the 2019 national cancer registration statistics in Korea, 1 out of 25 people (a total patient population of 2,147,503 people) are either receiving can
What would it be if we had to pick one piece of information most important for the genetic diagnosis of rare disease patients?The information required for genetic diagnosis is very diverse, such as the correlation between genes and diseases, the function of genes, important location information that
The ruling People Power Party (PPP) clinched a landslide victory in local elections on June 1. Although the new government started with the lowest approval ratings compared to any previous government, the local elections boosted its insufficient political power. The political season has ended. Now,
Under the former Moon Jae-in administration, the Korean Medical Association (KMA) collided with the government on almost every health issue.Defying the government’s plan to establish a new public medical school to increase doctors at state-run hospitals, medical school students even refused to take
I started as a software engineer by developing embedded software for digital X-ray systems in the early 1980s. It was a transitional period where a system that combined 8-bit microprocessors such as i8085 or Z80 with assembly language to a system based on C language and 16-bit processors such as i80
This month is a momentous occasion, celebrating the nearly 15 years of the formalization of medical device regulations in Korea. Which is also a moment to reflect – how has the industry evolved since then, and what are the major themes to tackle ahead?APACMed, the voice of the medical device industr
Climate change, fine dust, the humidifier sterilizer incident that killed many Korean people, frequent industrial incidents, mounting garbage, drinking and smoking, and growing obesity and mental illness – what do they have in common?.These are the growing shadows of modern civilization’s rapid expa
On September 24, 2021, the Medical Service Act in Korea was amended to include provisions for the installation of closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) in operating rooms (ORs). According to the amended Medical Service Act, by September 25, 2023, medical institutions that operate on patients in an uncon
A healthy life is a primary concern for voters. That is why every presidential candidate makes pledges on national health insurance policies. The presidential election on March 9 was no exception.Candidate Lee Jae-myung from the ruling Democratic Party promised that the government would cover the co
“We cannot answer your question as we have to ask our global headquarters for comment and win their approval. Can you give us the question you want to ask in a document so we can ask our headquarters?”That was the response from a spokesperson for Janssen Korea, the local offshoot of Johnson & Johnso
Korea held the seventh presidential election on March 9, since the first direct presidential election in 1987. The transition of power every five years has become standard in Korean society. However, watching the latest election, voters might have been feeling complex emotions.I want to note two thi
A global blockbuster drug refers to a pharmaceutical product that sells for over $10 billion worldwide. Although Korean drug companies received FDA approval for 23 medicines between 2003 and 2021, no company could make their products become a global blockbuster drug.In 2022, four Korean pharmaceutic