“Expanding medication delivery is healthcare privatization” Pharmacist and civic groups rally in front of the Blue House···Patient groups counter with “protecting the interests of pharmacists” - 경향신문

This article was translated by an AI tool. Feedback Here.

On the 13th, the Coalition to Block Healthcare Privatization and Realize Free Healthcare, which includes Pharmacists for a Healthy Society and People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, held a joint rally in front of the Blue House in Jongno-gu, Seoul, opposing a full-scale expansion of medication delivery. According to the organizers, about 1,300 people attended. Provided by the coalition

“A full-scale expansion of medication delivery is an attempt to complete platform-centered healthcare privatization.”

Pharmacist, consumer, and labor groups took to the streets to oppose the government's discussion of broadening eligibility for the delivery of prescription medicines from telemedicine to all patients. They argue that for-profit platforms would dominate care, prescribing, dispensing, and delivery, turning healthcare into a money-making tool. In contrast, the Korea Alliance of Patient Organizations and others counter that, under the banner of patient safety, this is about protecting the interests of pharmacists, deepening the conflict over expanding medication delivery.

On the 13th, the “Coalition to Block Healthcare Privatization and Realize Free Healthcare,” which includes Pharmacists for a Healthy Society and People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, held a solidarity rally in front of the Blue House in Jongno-gu, Seoul, opposing a full-scale expansion of medication delivery. The organizers estimated that about 1,300 people attended. Participants sat on the road in front of the Blue House holding placards that read ‘Stop expanding telemedicine and medication delivery that fuels healthcare privatization’.

The rally was held to oppose the government's push to expand eligibility for medication delivery. On the 20th of last month, the government announced that it would begin discussions on expanding eligibility to all telemedicine patients. The revised Medical Service Act, which will take effect on December 24, allows medication delivery only for certain patients such as residents of islands and remote areas; broadening eligibility would require another amendment of the law.

In a resolution, the participating groups defined full-scale expansion as an “attempt to complete platform-centered healthcare privatization.” They argued that if for-profit platforms bundle and dominate care, prescribing, dispensing, and delivery, the focus would shift to increasing prescriptions and transactions, encouraging overtreatment and medication misuse. They particularly pointed out that the harms of monopoly seen in delivery apps and taxi-hailing apps would be repeated in healthcare, with the burden falling on the public.

Jeon Gyeong-rim, head of Pharmacists for a Healthy Society, said, “Medicines are not a delivery commodity that ends the moment they arrive at the doorstep,” and “Healthcare must not become a new growth market for platform companies.” She added, “A policy that claims to revive local healthcare yet seeks to place private for-profit platforms between clinicians and patients is bound to be in conflict.”

There was also criticism that medication delivery cannot be a realistic solution to care gaps in islands and remote areas. Jeon Jin-han, policy director of the Physicians for Humanism who worked as a public health doctor on Yeonpyeong Island, said, “Even on islands, public health doctors and hospital ships are available, so mild patients did not fail to receive medicines, but severe cases such as a severed finger or suspected cerebral hemorrhage sometimes resulted in loss of life,” adding, “The government is spending budget on promoting medication delivery while neither increasing the emergency medical budget nor investing in expanding the hospital ships preferred by residents.”

Concerns were also raised that National Health Insurance spending could increase. Cho Dong-hwan, senior vice representative of the Health Consumers Union, said, “Without a transparent assessment of how much medication delivery will raise insurance expenditures, who will bear additional fees and administrative costs, and how overtreatment and duplicate prescriptions will be prevented, the system should not be expanded,” adding, “We will never tolerate premiums paid by the public flowing into the costs of platform growth, only for the burden to return as premium hikes and reduced coverage.”

On the 13th, the Coalition to Block Healthcare Privatization and Realize Free Healthcare, which includes Pharmacists for a Healthy Society and People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, held a joint rally in front of the Blue House in Jongno-gu, Seoul, opposing a full-scale expansion of medication delivery. According to the organizers, about 1,300 people attended. Provided by the coalition

Patient and consumer groups, on the other hand, argue that maintaining the current criteria without broadening eligibility for delivery of prescription medicines from telemedicine would exclude those who need delivery the most. The Pharmaceutical Sovereignty Patient and Consumer Solidaritycomprising the Korea Consumer Federation, the Korea Alliance of Patient Organizations, the Consumers Union of Korea, and the Korea Alliance for Rare and Intractable Diseasessaid in a statement on the 9th, “Cancer patients with weakened immunity for whom going out is dangerous, and older adults with mobility difficulties who have not obtained a long-term care grade are not eligible under current criteria to receive prescriptions at home,” criticizing that “requiring patients who received care and prescriptions via telemedicine to travel again to obtain medicines defeats the purpose of the system.”

About three months remain until December 24, when the revised Medical Service Act takes effect. The government plans to prepare subordinate regulations in time for implementation, including community-pharmacy-centered delivery and a ban on pharmacies dedicated to telemedicine, and will also discuss additional legal amendments to expand eligibility. The Korean Pharmacists Association has announced a nationwide rally on the 20th opposing the expansion of medication delivery, ramping up pressure.