The government announced on Tuesday that it would foster the non-face-to-face industry in the medical field as part of President Moon Jae-in's "Korean New Deal" plan.

President Moon Jae-in unveils the Korean New Deal initiative at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. (Cheong Wa Dae)

The Korean New Deal is a massive project with a total budget of 160 trillion won ($133.2 billion) that aims to create 1.9 million jobs.

The government plans to initiate the New Deal in three steps.

During the first, or “launching,” stage, which will start this year, the government will spend 6.3 trillion won for crisis-overcoming and immediate business investment. In the second, or “stepping-stone,” stage, the government will invest 67.7 trillion won to provide 887,000 new jobs from 2021-2022.

The third, or “root-taking,” stage will spend 160 trillion won on supplementing and completing new growth paths from 2023-2025, creating 1.9 million new jobs in cumulative total.

The 10 major business platforms of the Korean New Deal are data dam, artificial intelligence government, smart medicare infrastructure, green remodeling, green energy, environment-friendly future mobility, green smart school, digital twin, SOC digitalization, and smart green industrial complex.

Notably, the government plans to build a digital-based smart medical infrastructure to protect medical staff and patients in the healthcare field and improve patients' medical convenience.

As part of the project, the government will build 18 digital-based smart hospitals that can monitor inpatients and consultation between medical institutions in real-time through 5G and IoT (Internet of Things)

In detail, starting with three hospitals this year, the government plans added six more hospitals in 2022 and nine new hospitals plans in 2025, while supporting one to two billion won per institution.

According to the government, smart hospitals can transmit and manage image information of patients in quarantine and intensive care rooms in real-time to medical staff, and help consultations between hospitals with infectious medicine specialists and hospitals without specialists.

The project will also include dedicated respiratory clinics to prepare for infectious diseases such as new coronavirus infections.

The government has decided to establish 1,000 dedicated respiratory clinics to identify and take action on respiratory and fever symptoms in advance.

The dedicated respiratory clinics will be equipped with prevention facilities for infection, such as negative pressure facilities. They will implement a reservation system for face-to-face treatment after confirming the patient's symptoms through prior telephone consultation.

The government will build 500 dedicated respiratory clinics this year and open the remaining clinics by next year under the New Deal. Clinics will also receive 100 million won per location for facility repair costs, imaging equipment, and sound pressure equipment purchases from the government.

Besides the new facilities, the government will also develop "Doctor Answer 2.0," artificial intelligence software that can diagnose up to 12 diseases, including liver disease, lung cancer, and diabetes.

The government had previously invested 36.4 billion won in developing "Doctor Answer 1.0," an AI diagnostic software that can diagnose up to eight diseases, from 2018 to this year.

The government also plans to establish a non-face-to-face medical platform through sufficient discussions with the medical community to respond to infectious diseases and improve public convenience.

Specifically, it will provide a supplementary system for medical concerns, such as patient safety, medical accident responsibility, and large hospitals.

The medical charge of home health insurance using ICT will continue to expand from the government's earlier pilot project.

In detail, the government will first distribute IoT sensors and AI speakers to 120,000 vulnerable citizens, such as the elderly, to detect a pulse, blood sugar, and activity while implementing digital care by supplying wearable devices to 200,000 people with chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

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