As the National Assembly discusses institutionalizing non-face-to-face treatment, doctor-turned-lawmaker Rep. Shin Hyun-young of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) also proposed an amendment bill, increasing the possibility of its early introduction.

The content of the revision bill to the Medical Service Act is similar to the existing one, marked by limiting telemedicine to first treatment and neighborhood clinics while banning institutions exclusively handling it.

Rep. Shin’s proposal calls for changing the name of non-contract treatment to “contactless healthcare service.”

It then defined non-face-to-face medical service as medical practices, such as continuous observation, diagnosis, counseling, and prescription of health or disease to patients outside medical institutions using wired, wireless, and video communications and other information-communication technology, such as computers, when doctors, dentists, and oriental doctors judge it medically safe.

It also included the prohibition of medical institutions exclusively providing contactless medical services.

Currently, telehealth is being conducted temporarily to protect patients, medical workers, and medical institutions from infection when a crisis warning of serious level or higher is issued due to infectious diseases, according to the Infectious Disease Prevention Act, Shin said.

“However, non-face-to-face treatment is necessary not to prevent infectious diseases but to provide medical services conveniently to people who have difficulty accessing medical institutions, an effective system that needs to be implemented continuously regardless of the spread of infectious diseases,” she said.

Accordingly, the latest amendment bill calls for institutions to be equipped with necessary facilities and devices and stipulates things to be kept in providing such services before institutionalizing it and implementing its safety, the DPK lawmaker said, explaining the proposal’s background.

The National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Affairs Committee held a subcommittee to discuss three existing amendment bills – each proposed by Rep. Lee Jong-seong of the ruling People Power Party and Reps. Kang Byung-won and Choi Hye-young of DPK.

Lee’s revision bill calls for the new system to supplement current face-to-face treatment by providing non-contact health services to patients in limited cases, such as those on islands and in mountainous areas, infectious disease patients, overseas residents, disabled people, and prison inmates.

Kang’s bill calls for providing noncontact services to patients with chronic diseases with low medical risks, conducting monitoring of them by observing and counseling them using medical equipment. It also restricted service providers to neighborhood clinics and also limited distant monitoring targets to returning patients with hypertension, diabetes, and arrhythmia who require long-term treatment and

Choi’s bill also limited the targets of noncontact treatment to those having difficulty visiting medical institutions while stipulating compliance and responsibility for the non-face-to-face treatment.

Political observers see a high chance of approving these bills, citing the strong will of the government and its party as well as the positive attitude of the main opposition party.