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By Jun Ji-hye
Calls are growing from the startup scene and members of the public as well as some doctors for continuing non-face-to-face medical services, known as telemedicine, which was allowed temporarily in Korea at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as it could be no longer available as soon as next month when the country's COVID-19 public health emergency ends.
The Korea Startup Forum, the nation's largest startup membership organization, launched an online campaign on April 14 to obtain signatures to "protect" the current telemedicine services that are available for both new and regular patients.
The campaign has attracted more than 90,000 signatures as of Wednesday, with participants including Woowa Brothers founder Kim Bong-jin and Viva Republica CEO Lee Seung-gun, as well as the general public including mothers who experienced the advantages of telemedicine services when their children were sick.
Telemedicine, which has long been opposed by medical circles citing concerns over possible errors in diagnosis and drug prescription, was allowed temporarily in Korea starting in February 2020 when the government raised the classification of COVID-19 to the top level ― "serious" ― in its four-tier system in coping with infectious diseases.
Since then, some 30 telemedicine platform startups, including Doctornow, have been actively providing telemedicine and drug delivery services.
But their future is in question, as the legal basis for their operation would vanish and their services would become illegal, when the government downgrades the classification of COVID-19 to "alert" from the current "serious" around May. That is around when the World Health Organization (WHO) plans to discuss whether to declare an end to what it calls a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) regarding the coronavirus.
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Five bills aimed at institutionalizing telemedicine are pending at the National Assembly, four of which stipulate that the service would be available only for regular patients.
According to the Telemedical Industry Council under the Korea Startup Forum, 99 percent of patients using the telemedicine services were first-time patients.
An official from one of the telemedicine platform startups said, "Many patients with minor symptoms have enjoyed the convenience of non-face-to-face medical services. Bills allowing the service for returning patients only would be useless."
The Telemedical Industry Council said Korea is the only country among the 38 OECD member nations that does not allow telemedicine. It added six of the G7 countries allow telemedicine both for first-time and returning patients.
Some 140 doctors who have participated in telemedicine services joined the move, calling for allowing the service regardless of the patients' number of visits.
"Several bills to disallow telemedicine services for first-time patients are pending at the Assembly in the name of institutionalizing non-face-to-face services. This runs counter to the global standard and is a regressive step in medical services," the doctors said in their petition to be submitted to the National Assembly.
The Voice for Consumers, a civic organization promoting the interests and rights of consumers, also issued a statement, April 13, calling for allowing telemedicine services both for first-time and returning patients.
The government and the ruling People Power Party said they would work to continue telemedicine as a pilot project even after the classification of COVID-19 is downgraded.
"Based on the achievement of the temporary non-face-to-face services, we will draw up measures to improve people's access to medical services," Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyoo-hong said during a meeting between the government and the ruling party on April 5. "We will also actively push to revise relevant laws to institutionalize non-face-to-face services at the earliest possible date."
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