KHA, Objects Financial Policy Of MOHW

Korean Medical Association (KMA) (Chairman Shin Sang-Jin) said to doctors through member guidance on 28th, ¡°do not worry about government`s changing system of general medicine into non-payment but treat patients according to your opinion like the past¡° and requested not to cooperate on measures that deducted 979 medicines from the subject of applying for health insurance (reference the newspaper A30 page on 19th).

KMA advised on this guidance, saying,¡°government is trying to overcome the crisis through temporary measures like increasing excluded medicines from insurance payment as it enforced separation of dispensary from medical practice and faced financial crisis¡° and ¡°do not change treatment and try to make patients understand despite necessary medicines for patient`s treatment are included in these measures¡°.

Although inconvenience, dissatisfaction and burden of patients is expected to increase like this, why KHA gave such guidance is probably to gather support before comprehensive strike (17th April ) that KMA is scheduled to go on demanding withdrawal of separation of dispensary from medical practice, Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) presumes.

Medicines that would be excluded from the subject of applying health insurance from April contains Gelfos (antacid), Miranta (antacid), Pantira (digestion), Festal (digestion), Livota (digestion), Circuran( blood circulation), Evio (medicine for intestine disorders), Cilycompu (medicine for liver), and Jenolotion (Ointment for muscle pain), etc.

MOHW stated that there would be no big inconvenience in treatment, although it is excluded from applying to health insurance as there are other medicines which are cheap and have the same effectiveness.

hanscho@donga.com