Introduction of profit-seeking medical institutions stopped
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that the Presidential Committee of Healthcare Industry Innovation (CHII) would first thoroughly review foreign medical institutions hoping to operate in South Korean free economic zones and on Jeju Island before discussing the introduction of privatized healthcare in South Korea. Since 2004, the government has proceeded with a plan to allow the establishment of profit-seeking medical institutions. The government hopes the plan would increase managerial efficiency along with creating revenue. The plan would also attract foreign patients and activate mergers among medical corporations, it said. The hospitals were slated to be opened as early as next year. The presidential committee pointed out potential problems with the plan, such as declining quality of medical treatment and an increase in unnecessary medical procedures performed in a drive for profit. The committee also raised concerns that introduction of such corporations may give rise to side effects, including a decline in medical field employment. The committee, instead of introducing commercial hospitals wholescale, is going to gradually allow several foreign-owned hospitals which pass its scrutiny to open profit-based medical facilities on condition that they employ a transparent accounting system. These institutions, slated to open by 2008, will serve as the litmus test for further privatization in South Korea.Wu Seok-gyun, a high-ranking official of Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights (KFHR), said, "The government has made the correct decision in cancelling its plan to make domestic hospitals into profit-making corporations." However, he said, the foreign-run commercialized hospitals in the Incheon Free Economic Zone "have plans to exclusively attract patients from the high-income bracket. The government should completely reconsider such plans."
