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The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Monday announced a planned revision of the decades-old medical law that would introduce an element of competition by partly allowing clinics and hospitals to attract patients. The ministry was originally to announce the proposal after consultation with the Korean Medical Association but, in an apparent show of determination after vociferous protests from the doctorsĄŻ group on Monday, decided to jump the gun.
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A nurse tacks a notice to the front window of a clinic in Seoul announcing its closure for protest on Tuesday.
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The KMA says the revision, the first in 34 years, violates doctorsĄŻ rights by not explicitly stating their exclusive right to administer injections. This, it argues, could infringe on doctorsĄŻ right of diagnosis after the right to fill the prescriptions was already handed over to pharmacists during a medical reform in 2000 that separated the duties of medical and pharmaceutical centers. Serious disruptions to medical care loom, with the KMA planning to rally doctors in protests in Seoul and Incheon on Tuesday and across the nation on Feb. 11.
Under the government proposal, clinics and hospitals must disclose treatment cost not subject to medical insurance on bulletin boards or leaflets so that patients can choose where they go for treatment. It also allows hospitals and clinics to offer discounts or waivers on those costs, which doctors fear could spur a price war among hospitals. The revision also compels hospitals to have a separate staff for infectious disease control within hospitals.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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