Calling Doctors
The spread of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is arousing controversy over telemedicine in Korea. The government temporarily allowed Samsung Medical Center patients to get prescriptions by phone or fax, with the hospital shut down due to the disease, but the medical community is opposed to it, claiming that it is a special favor.
Experts point out that telemedicine can be a solution to infection in hospitals and crowded ERs, two of the main culprits of the MERS crisis. Also, the crisis would not even have occurred if telemedicine systems had been in operation.
According to current law, medical examinations and prescriptions by phone are illegal. However, the Medical Act also stipulates that a phone-based medical checkup is temporarily allowed by the Minister of Health & Welfare, a mayor or a provincial governor, in the event of a critical incident related to national health.
At present, organizations in the medical community are claiming that the government illegally allowed telemedicine, despite the lack of proof as to its safety and effectiveness. “The collusion-based special treatment offered to the major hospital will take the others’ patients away,” one of them said.
Under the circumstances, it is pointed out that the introduction of the method of high efficiency is being delayed due to turf battles amid the ongoing national emergency. “The government has failed for over a decade to persuade the medical community to bring in telemedicine, and the community itself has been immersed in the turf battles to bring about the current situation,” a medical expert criticized, adding, “This is a time where we need to bury the hatchet and seek how to make use of telemedicine, which is well known abroad to contribute greatly to reducing infection risks at medical institutions and managing infectious disease patients.”