Controversy rekindled over telemedicine

By Lee Kyung-min

A decades-long controversy over telemedicine is re-emerging after the government announced it would allow a limited level of telemedicine for people who lack access to medical help due to their locations.

The announcement immediately drew backlash from doctors and activists who view it as the beginning of commercialization of medical services.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday that a related law would be revised to allow the system for residents in remote areas, soldiers, inmates in correctional facilities and deep-sea fishing vessel crewmen.

The primary objective is to help such people have access to quality medical services regardless of their location, it added.

The announcement followed a recent discussion between officials at Cheng Wa and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea after Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said last month that he would allow telemedicine.

President Moon Jae-in also said last week that he deemed telemedicine offering medical services in remote areas a positive aspect of the contentious issue.

Moon, who campaigned against commercialization of medical services, said limiting the scope of people eligible for the service to only those in remote areas is irrelevant to what liberals fear _ the “commercialization of healthcare.”

The decision triggered a massive backlash from doctors, civic activists and progressive lawmakers, most of who consider expansion of telemedicine as a step toward gradual but full commercialization, or privatization, of healthcare services. It is expected the controversy over the adoption of telemedicine, which has shown no signs of compromise over the past two decades due to fierce protests from various interest groups, is expected to emerge again.

Korea first ran a pilot program in 2000 to offer telemedicine in the state-run community healthcare centers in remote cities and counties in Gangwon Province. The program was expanded in the early 2010s but only patients suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes and other chronic illnesses could use the service.

Telemedicine, health care services using information and telecommunication technologies, enables patients to receive diagnoses and prescriptions without visiting clinics and hospitals in person.

Supporters of the telemedicine say it improves patients' convenience as it saves them time and money, but those against it say it will drive up the medical costs, burdening households.

Doctors' groups say the technology-based treatment can lead to a spike in the number of misdiagnoses or glitch-caused medical malpractices.