Starting today, non-face-to-face treatment is permitted… Minimize patient discomfort

The government is temporarily allowing non-face-to-face medical treatment to minimize patient inconvenience as the medical gap due to collective action by doctors grows.

This measure will be applied from the 23rd, and the end date will be announced separately depending on the progress of the collective action. After the end date, the existing pilot project standards will be applied again.

In addition, on this day, the ‘Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters in Response to Collective Action of Doctors’ held its first meeting chaired by Director Han Deok-soo (Prime Minister) and raised the health care crisis level from ‘alert’ to ‘serious’.

Park Min-soo, First General Coordinator of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare), explained in a briefing on the 23rd, “This upgrade has been made as concerns about damage to the people’s health and lives due to group actions have increased.”

He continued, “We are taking very seriously the collective action of doctors who put the people’s health and lives as collateral and the medical gap crisis, and we will mobilize all the capabilities and resources necessary to minimize the medical gap by establishing a cooperative system with the relevant ministries and 17 cities and provinces.” “It’s a plan,” he emphasized.

General Coordinator Park said, “Non-face-to-face treatment will be fully permitted from the 23rd until the end of the doctors’ collective action,” adding, “Accordingly, non-face-to-face treatment will be fully implemented at all medical institutions, including clinics and hospitals, without a separate application or designation.” “He said.

In addition, “tertiary general hospitals with a high turnover of residents will focus their capabilities on treating severe and emergency patients to prevent burnout of medical staff, and plan to treat patients with moderate or lower illness at the local secondary hospital level and outpatients with mild illness at the clinic level.” “He added.

Accordingly, medical institutions eligible for non-face-to-face treatment are all types of medical institutions, including hospital-level medical institutions, and if the doctor determines it is safe, non-face-to-face treatment can be provided for both initial and return visits.

In addition, considering the possibility that the demand for non-face-to-face medical treatment will rapidly increase in some medical institutions due to the implementation of this measure, the temporary limit of 30% on the non-face-to-face medical treatment and dispensing rate and the prohibition on exceeding 2 times a month per patient at the same medical institution will not be applied.

However, the scope of at-home receipt of medicines will maintain the current pilot project standards, including residents of islands and remote areas, people with mobility impairments (long-term care people over 65 years old, people with disabilities), patients with confirmed infectious diseases, and patients with rare diseases.

On this day, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters also inspected the implementation of emergency medical measures by ministries.

Operation of emergency medical care system including military hospital, veterans hospital, industrial accident hospital, etc.… Responding to gaps in care

First, as of 6 o’clock on the 20th, the Ministry of National Defense opened the emergency rooms of 12 military hospitals 24 hours a day and organized medical staff to support emergency patient treatment.

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs will visit the Central Veterans Hospital on the 21st to check emergency treatment measures with medical staff. Going forward, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs plans to operate the Veterans Affairs Hospital emergency treatment system and respond to gaps in treatment, including expanding the on-call duty of specialists and adjusting treatment reservation schedules.

Nine industrial accident hospitals under the Ministry of Employment and Labor maintain an emergency medical treatment system, and the industrial accident hospitals support rapid patient transfer and transfer in conjunction with related organizations within local governments, such as university hospitals, public health centers, and city halls.

Regarding the plan to respond to group actions by ministries, the Ministry of Education first establishes an emergency contact system with 40 medical schools to quickly identify situations related to group actions of medical students and monitor the universities’ strict academic management.

The Ministry of Justice plans to take strict action, including thoroughly investigating the instigators of illegal group actions as well as those who manipulate and instigate them behind the scenes, arresting and investigating them in principle, and holding residents who fail to comply with the order to begin work on charges of violating medical law.

In addition, the legal support group, comprised of the Korea Legal Aid Corporation, legal home doctors, and village lawyers, actively supports legal counseling and damages lawsuits for citizens who have been harmed by collective action, so that patients and their families can recover from the damage. there is.

The National Police Agency plans to block the spread of illegal atmosphere through strict law enforcement and judicial processing. Cases against groups or important personnel leading group actions will be directly investigated by the city/provincial police agencies, and the instigators and behind-the-scenes forces will be arrested and investigated. Actively promote it.

If death or other harm occurs due to refusal of treatment or delay in surgery or treatment, the city/provincial police agency’s criminal task force will directly investigate, and illegal offenders will be severely punished based on the principle of arrest and investigation.

Those in charge of medical institutions who neglect the occurrence of harm will also be held accountable, and even acts that interfere with hospital work by altering or deleting medical records or electronic medical records will be thoroughly investigated.

In addition, for individual residents who do not return to work, a prompt investigation is conducted, including requesting attendance immediately upon receiving a complaint and arresting them by issuing an arrest warrant if they fail to comply.

Even if a person violates the individual work start order, those who refuse to return to work or instigate damage to medical records through the Internet or SNS will be subject to strict measures, including arrest and investigation.

In particular, we strictly respond to malicious fake news, such as false public opinion incitement and defamation related to collective action.

The Fair Trade Commission is constantly monitoring trends in the medical community’s response under a close cooperation system between relevant ministries, and plans to take immediate and strict action if a medical organization, which is a business organization, commits an act such as forcing its member businesses to suspend work.

Director Han Deok-soo emphasized, “Collective actions that harm the lives and health of the people cannot be justified for any reason,” and added, “The government will mobilize all means possible to protect the lives of patients by minimizing disruption to treatment.”

Meanwhile, as of 10 o’clock on the 22nd, as of 10 o’clock on the 22nd, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s inspection of 94 major training hospitals showed that 8,897 residents, or about 78.5% of the residents, submitted their resignation letters, but none of them were accepted, and 7,863 residents, or 69.4% of the residents, left their workplace. done.