'Lessons from MERS outbreak help Korea cope with coronavirus'

Kwon Deok-cheol, director of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the KHIDI's office in Seoul, Feb. 4. /Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

“Big data, global expansion will gear up health industry”

By Bahk Eun-ji, Kim Eil-chul

Kwon Deok-cheol, director of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), who led the government's Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Virus (MERS) response headquarters in 2015, has been the most sought-after expert as Korea battles the coronavirus pandemic. He is one of the key officials who established the medical protocol for infectious diseases.

After dealing with the MERS outbreak at that time, he strengthened the infection control system significantly, which is believed to have played a key role in the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. The government made missteps that cost them precious time and many lives in the fight against MERS because hospitals and officials were unprepared. But the lesson the administration learned from MERS helped them to strike while the iron was hot in the COVID-19 outbreak.

An infectious disease management network between central and local governments, and medical institutions was established during the outbreak, as well as an access control system and negative pressure isolation rooms in hospitals.

“It seems that history develops through many trials and errors. Unlike the MERS outbreak in 2015, the initial response and the active measures by the government have greatly improved,” Kwon said.

Although he has moved from the position at the health ministry, he has kept his eye on the COVID-19 outbreak.

Kwon was named head of the KHIDI in September 2019, from the position of vice minister at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

In a first, he set aside 12.6 billion won ($10.32 million) for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in the institute's budget for this year.

“The outbreak of new types of infectious diseases will continue to occur in the future. The system to respond to such infectious disease is one of the basic roles of the KHIDI; to solve health problems,” Kwon said.

The KHIDI is a government-affiliated institution that specializes in supporting and nurturing health industries and improving health services. In charge of promoting the nation's health and medical industries, he set this year's goal as “quality and quantitative growth of the industry.”

In particular, he said he would focus on building relevant big data and promoting startups related to the health industry during his three-year tenure.

“There are challenges to be addressed such as personal information protection, but the institution will establish the national bio-big data with 1 million people to overcome various diseases and create a foundation for the development of the medical industry,” he said.

His ambition came after the Moon Jae-in administration designated bio health as one of the growth sectors the government will support. Moon has mentioned that the pharmaceutical and life engineering industries will lead the nation's economy.

“In this regard, the government will collect medical and genetic information of 1 million people, including 400,000 cancer and rare disease patients and 600,000 non-patients by 2029 to build a “bio database” and to boost research and find the cause of rare incurable diseases,” Kwon said.

He also expressed ambitions to pursue efforts to have the country's health industry play a key role in innovative growth. The KHIDI has played a pivotal role in the overseas expansion of Korean medical institutions over the past decade.

In the past decade, the institute has provided support such as professional consulting for such a global expansion. The KHIDI's efforts have led many hospitals to advance into other countries such as Russia, Mongol and Uzbekistan. To lead in the health and medical sectors, Kwon emphasized that Korea needs a more sustainable business model, and global leadership.

“The KHIDI will continuously support the medical community's expansion overseas,” he said.

Kwon was born in Namwon, North Jeolla Province. He graduated from Sungkyunkwan University and got master's and doctoral degrees at Speyer University in Germany. He has worked as a director-general in various ministerial bureaus, including those dealing with childcare, welfare and healthcare policies.

He was seconded by Cheong Wa Dae during the Kim Dae-jung administration in October 2002, and took part in state affairs under the Roh Moo-hyun government. From 2017 to 2019, he served as vice minister of the health ministry. Working at various departments of the health ministry, Kwon has a profound understanding of pending medical issues and maintains a good relationship with the medical community.