[Anchor]
Starting later this year, residents in remote islands or isolated areas will be able to receive prescribed medications delivered directly to their homes without visiting a hospital or pharmacy. When the government signaled its intent to expand this type of medication delivery policy, the pharmaceutical community immediately protested.
Reporter Han Sung-hee has the details.
[Reporter]
Contactless medical treatment allows patients to meet doctors using smartphones without visiting a hospital.
Following a six-year pilot project after COVID-19, it is set to be fully implemented this coming December.
With the implementation of contactless treatment, exceptions will also be made to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act regulation stating that prescribed medications must be sold only within pharmacies.
Residents of islands and remote areas, long-term care beneficiaries, and people with disabilities will be able to receive their prescribed medications via delivery after contactless treatment without having to visit a pharmacy.
However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it will begin discussing legal revisions toward allowing such medication delivery to all contactless treatment patients.
This means patients may not need to visit either hospitals or pharmacies, and citizens generally appear to welcome the idea.
[Kim Joo-young / Seongdong-gu, Seoul: In our home, it is often difficult for my grandmother and father to go all the way to the pharmacy to get medications prescribed, so....]
[Jang Dong-woo / Seongdong-gu, Seoul: Since messages and such regarding medication instructions will keep coming in between, I think medication delivery is a good system.]
The pharmaceutical community immediately protested.
They argue that there is a possibility of dispensed medicines degrading during the delivery process, and serious concerns remain regarding drug abuse and misuse.
[Jang Bo-hyun / Pharmacist: Even when we see patients face-to-face at the pharmacy, show them the medicine directly, and explain it, there are many cases where problems arise because they take or use it incorrectly. There are no safety devices or anything for that at all....]
The Korean Pharmaceutical Association issued a statement declaring that it will not participate in consultative body discussions premised on expanding medication delivery, and will desperately block the push for delivery expansion.
This reaction is interpreted as stemming from concerns that if medication delivery is expanded, the scope will eventually extend to over-the-counter drugs previously purchased directly at pharmacies without a prescription, ultimately affecting pharmacy sales.
On the other hand, a welcoming atmosphere is detected among delivery companies and online ordering platform businesses.
Major countries such as the United States and Japan already allow the delivery of prescription drugs, and pharmacists even provide medication guidance over the phone or via video.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to broadly discuss concerns such as quality control of manufactured medicines and medication guidance, but with fierce opposition from the pharmaceutical community, revisions to the law are expected to face rough sailing.
(Video Shooting: Joo Yong-jin | Video Editing: Lee Hong-myung)
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