Gov't determined to enforce medical pact

The government is determined to enforce the existing Pharmaceutical Law without pursuing any further revisions in the event the medical or pharmaceutical communities reject the accord reached among them and the government earlier this week.

Health and Welfare Minister Choi Sun-Jung told the press Monday that it was out of the question for the members of the two professions to vote down an agreement put together by their representatives. In the case of rejection, the government will make on its own some readjustments on a few points at issue, putting them through the tribunal of public opinion, Choi said.

Spontaneous or optional separation of writing prescriptions and dispensing drugs, which some medical practitioners insist is impractical, the minister declared, and turning down the latest agreement by the medical and pharmaceutical industries would force the government to reconsider the role of the Health Care Development Commission under the direct control of the president and similar consultative arrangements between the government and the medical communities.

As to possible administrative action against some practitioners who took part in strikes Choi commented that he could understand the plight of doctors and pharmacists before October when the three-way negotiations got underway, suggesting that the strikes staged previous to October be dismissed as legally incontrovertible.

Meanwhile, the national association of medical university professors resolved in its executive meeting Sunday that the new compromise plan is acceptable despite several unsatisfactory stipulations and that the group would make public the results of a poll of the opinions of its members Tuesday morning. The positive reaction of these members of the medical faculty is likely to influence the attitude of interns and residents, who will vote on the accord Friday.

The emergency measures commission of interns and residents called a meeting of its hospital chapter representatives Monday and decided to have about 10 percent of its membership (more than 1,600) return to their hospitals to provide treatment starting Wednesday, aside from the question of accepting or rejecting the compromise scheme.

In another related development, the Health and Welfare Ministry is to clamp down on and ban the operation of drugstores located in the same building with a hospital or clinic, or the opening of similar dispensaries liable to connivance between doctors and pharmacists.

Song Sang-Keun songmoon@donga.com