South Korea eases regulations on online medical consultations amid medical gap, number of cases increases sixfold

In order to fill the medical gap caused by a strike by medical residents (trainees) at large hospitals in South Korea, the South Korean government relaxed non-face-to-face (online) medical treatment completely in February this year, and the number of patients with mild symptoms, mainly in local hospitals,
According to the Telemedicine Industry Council on the 10th, goodoc, Doctor
The results of a survey on the current status of use of four online medical consultation platforms, including Doctor Now and Soldoc, showed that the number of online
The number of requests for online medical treatment was 155,599, an average of 5,020 per day. This is 6.5 times the number of requests in November last year, when online medical treatment was permitted on a limited basis only for patients who were in hospital.
"When interns at large hospitals go on strike, patients flock to small and medium-sized hospitals and local hospitals, making it difficult to receive medical treatment," said Lee Seul, co-chair of the Telemedicine Industry Council.
"Patients with mild symptoms chose online medical care as an alternative," he said. After restrictions on the use of online medical care were fully relaxed, demand increased.
By symptom, colds were the most common, accounting for about 20% of all cases. Pediatrics was seen to account for a large proportion of cases among medical specialties.
Pediatrics accounted for 35% of all requests for medical treatment on Doctor Now, more than one-third of all cases. However, the government did not see the participation of secondary general hospitals, which it had targeted as replacements for the gaps in advanced general hospitals.
Chairman Lee explained, "We received many inquiries from hospitals and have looked into the possibility of collaboration between hospitals and the platform, but there have been no cases of additional collaboration."
On the 20th of last month, the Ministry of Health and Welfare found from medical institutions' billing documents that there were 76 hospital-level online medical consultations in the week since the deregulation.
"In many cases, the government does not use the platform, and the statistics of the platform industry may not be accurate because the participating organizations are not using the platform," he explained.
The government plans to further develop the online medical model by reflecting the evaluations and opinions. However, the medical community and some patient groups have raised concerns that online medical treatment increases the risk of misdiagnosis, and that the system should be revised as medical treatment expands.
At a press conference of its emergency response committee last month, the Korean Medical Association said, "Online medical consultations pose problems such as the risk of legal disputes, encouraging excessive medical consumption, and delaying treatment for serious and emergency diseases.
"The attempt to expand online medical consultations, which are currently being conducted as pilot projects, should be halted," he said. The Free Medical Care Movement Headquarters, a civic group of health care workers, also said, "Online medical consultations are the property of large corporations.
"This is for the sake of expanding into the medical market," he said. "We must stop the privatization, marketization, and deregulation of medical care, which will further erode essential medical care."