President Moon Jae-in promised that the government would guarantee an appropriate level of reimbursements for medical care, assuring physicians who are raising concerns over his policy of expanding health insurance coverage, dubbed the “Mooncare.” “I fully understand doctors’ worries about the so-called Mooncare, which will drastically enhance health insurance coverage,” the President said at
Despite the cold weather, nearly 30,000 physicians from across the country held a street rally in Seoul over the weekend to protest against President Moon Jae-in’s policy of expanding health insurance coverage, dubbed the “Mooncare.”They also cried out to stop the legislation that allows Oriental medicine practitioners to use the modern medical device.The Korean Medical Association’s emerg
A baseball player mistakenly took Oriental herbal medicine and failed a doping test recently, which prompted the medical community to call for strict control on filling prescriptions of traditional herbal medicine.They also urged the authorities to manage more strictly the use of Ephedra, or mahuang, a commonly used ingredient in herbal medicine. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said
The previous Park Geun-hye government mismanaged 1.53 trillion won ($1.36 billion) budget for research and development of healthcare products and picked inappropriate researchers for some of the state-supported studies, a lawmaker said Tuesday.According to Rep. Gwon Mi-hyeog of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, who received a report from the Korea Health Industry Development Institute
The Seoul National University Hospital’s introduction of hospitalist system has lowered the chance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on patients and their mortality rate, an SNU professor said.Hospitalists are physicians specializing in treating hospitalized patients to minimize hospital visits by other physicians.Kang Hyun-jae, a professor of internal medicine at SNU’s College of Med
Doctors will hold a rally to fight against President Moon Jae-in’s policy of expanding health insurance coverage, dubbed the “Mooncare,” and block Oriental medicine practitioners from using modern medical devices.The Korean Medical Association’s emergency planning committee said Tuesday its member physicians across the nation would hold the rally at 2 p.m. on Dec. 10. The committee aims to gat
Patient no-shows -- people not attending to appointments with a physician -- are on the rise at national university hospitals, which requires a countermeasure, a lawmaker said Tuesday.Rep. An Min-suk of the ruling Democratic Party said 14 national university hospitals suffered 13.4 percent rate of no-shows in August, up 1 percentage point from 12.4 percent a year earlier. An said so after anal
Lawmakers demanded Seoul National University Hospital President Suh Chang-suk step down at a parliamentary audit of state-run university hospitals, but Suh made it clear that he had no intention to resign.The legislators from both the ruling and opposition parties at the National Assembly’s Education, Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee said Suh should take responsibility for fabricating th
Almost a year after the Act on Prohibiting Improper Solicitation and Graft, or “Kim Young-ran Law,” went into effect, many changes have occurred in the medical community. Above all, solicitations to move up the orders of patient treatments and surgeries disappeared.“The biggest change after the implementation of the Kim Young-ran Law is the decrease in solicitations for treatments or surgery.
More than 60 percent of medical residents have overworked, despite new work limit of 80 hours per week set by the act to improve training conditions and status of medical residents, a survey showed Wednesday. The law will take effect on Dec. 22.Medical Policy Research Institute의료정책연구소, the Korea Medical Association’s think tank, conducted the online survey of 1,786 medical residents, including
The so-called “Moon Jae-in care,” or a drastic plan by President Moon Jae-in to overhaul the South Korean healthcare program, needs at least 34.7 trillion won ($30.6 billion) of financing, a think tank said Monday.Medical Policy Research Institute, the Korean Medical Association’s idea factory, said in a report that the cost to cover “Mooncare” is estimated to be 4.18 trillion won higher than
The medical community tried to water down the “compulsory designation system” to cope with the “Mooncare,” during a recent conference, but the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW)보건복지부 did not budge an inch.Korean Medical Association (KMA)대한의사협회 held a forum Wednesday with the aim of allowing exceptions from the current system, which obligates all the hospitals in the nation to be designated
The government reiterated its firm intention to push ahead with the “Mooncare,” expressing confidence about its financing, which had been pointed out as the policy’s biggest problem.“The government has sufficient fiscal rooms. We can raise 50 trillion won ($4.4 billion) or even more,” said Jung Tong-ryung정통령, director of the Insurance Payment Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, dur
Korea’s research and development projects have fallen short of attaining efficient outcome compared to the money spent on them, an expert said. It requires a comprehensive improvement by, for instance, working out long-term R&D policy and changing agencies that educate and manage them, he added. “The government’s R&D budget can hardly be said as small compared with the nation’s econ
The Korean government ought to expand its financial support to help eliminate Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), tuberculosis, and malaria from the world, a renowned expert, said Monday.“Koreans emphasize the country is the world’s 11th-largest economic to boast about its status, but the nation is less than positive in supporting the global fight against diseases,” said Dr. Choi S
Screen doors at hospital wards, introduced to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the wake of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERSW) in 2015, are getting renewed attention.This is not only because these doors have proved useful in meeting the initial purpose of blocking infections but because they have been included in the additional criteria for the third-stage designation of “
To cope with new infectious diseases properly, Korea needs to have high-level isolation units and form multidisciplinary teams that can treat various severe underlying problems, experts said Tuesday. “The nation should have a monitoring system that can detect infectious diseases at early stages and aggressively prepare for their occurrences and emergency communication,” said Professor Choe Pyo
“Regenerative medicine will become one of the core values that determine the future of Korea.” Yoo Kyung-man유경만, head of the Science and Technology Strategy Institute,과학기술전략연구소made the prediction at a public hearing to revitalize regenerative medicine at the Westin Chosun Hotel Thursday."Advanced regenerative medical technology is the key to realizing the public’s health and welfare and na
The medical community is strongly protesting against a bill that obligates doctors and other medical workers to send children’s birth certificates directly to administrative agencies. The protesters are concerned that if there are errors in the birth certificates, doctors will take responsibility for them.Rep. Ham Jin-kyu함진규 of the opposition Liberty Korea Party자유한국당 proposed the partially rev
Throughout the past year, Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) was at the center of social controversy.It was only the start that Professor Suh Chang-suk서창석, attending physician for former President Park Geun-hye, became the president and CEO of SNUH서울대병원, triggering controversy about “parachuting” appointment.The hospital’s pride as Korea’s best medical institution suffered a huge se