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| Choi Dae-zip, center, president of the Korea Medical Association, holds a written complaint against the Association of Korean Medicine over the latter's plan to use X-ray equipment and blood tests, in front of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
A decades-old debate over "territory infringement" in the medical sector is being revived, following plans by traditional Korean medicine doctors to use X-ray machines and administer blood tests.
While they claim their use of the medical devices is essential to provide services based on accurate analysis, medical doctors claim the plans violate the Medical Law and infringe on their field.
Last week, the Association of Korean Medicine (AKOM) said its members would start using X-ray machines and conducting blood tests in July or August.
For X-rays, AKOM President Choi Hyuk-young says traditional medicine doctors need to use X-ray machines when providing Chuna manual therapy, a treatment that corrects spinal disorders by pushing and pulling body parts by hand, similar to chiropractic treatment.
The state health insurance began to cover the therapy in April, and AKOM claims it needs to check the condition of a patient's bones to administer accurate treatment.
Under the current law, it is illegal for traditional medicine practitioners to use X-ray machines. So AKOM plans to use portable low-dose X-ray machines, the use of which is not subject to the law.
The group also said its members would conduct blood tests in order to test the effectiveness of herbal medicines in a patient, and to assure safety.
"To use traditional medicine safely, doctors need to figure out (through a blood test) whether the condition of a patient's liver or kidney has changed after taking the medicine," Choi said during a press conference, May 13.
Herbal medicine will also be covered by the state health insurance from the latter half of this year in a pilot program.
"Ahead of the pilot insurance coverage for herbal medicine, we can't delay adopting blood test devices anymore," Choi said.
"We welcome the health ministry's decision to expand the insurance coverage of Chuna therapy and herbal medicine. This will alleviate patients' financial burden and contribute to improving public health, so we urge the government to take further steps to include X-rays and blood tests in the coverage."
The plans immediately drew protest from medical doctors, who claim traditional practitioners use of such medical instruments is an "unlicensed, illegal medical act."
"AKOM's declaration to use X-rays ignores the law and the principle," Korean Medical Association (KMA) President Choi Dae-zip said, Wednesday, when he filed a complaint with the prosecution against the AKOM chief for aiding and abetting unlicensed medical acts.
He also said the blood tests, which AKOM plans to adopt, include medical indexes that are not explained by traditional Korean medicine, so the doctors administering them may interpret the indexes at their own discretion, which may lead to misdiagnosis.
Some other medical-related groups expressed their objections to AKOM's move.
"X-rays should be read by licensed doctors who have been professionally trained in anatomy and radiation physics to diagnose a patient's condition exactly," the Korean Society of Radiology said in a statement.
The Korean Hospital Association also released a statement to claim the safety and effectiveness of traditional medicine has not been scientifically proven.
The health ministry has not come up with any clear resolution regarding the conflict.
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