A new law passed the National Assembly Thursday, sharply strengthening the authority of the head of Korean Pharmaceutical Association (KPA) to control pharmacist licenses.

The revised law, for instance, will enable the KPA’s chairman to ask the minister of health and welfare보건복지부 to cancel the licenses of mental-ill or drug-addicted pharmacists.

Also winning the parliamentary approval on the day was a law that provides the legal basis for supporting emergency treatment facilities in medically vulnerable areas.

According to the amendment to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, the KPA chairman can ask the health and welfare minister to cancel the pharmacist licenses of mental patients and drug addicts, based on the decisions of the association’s ethics commission.

The revised Emergency Medical Service Act stipulates the establishment of emergency medical facilities at community health centers while providing the basis for supporting emergency medical facilities in underserved rural areas.

The Assembly also approved a law on managing and studying cord blood, which calls for introducing a penalty for people who use, provide and transplant improper cord blood beyond the original purpose of researching and producing medicines, and making it mandatory to assess the management performances of cord blood bank and publish its results every two years.

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