A bill will be introduced to eradicate ghost surgeries and proxy surgeries by mandating the recording of the medical personnel who took part in the surgery and the surgical methods and details.
According to the medical community and others on the 20th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recently gave advance notice of legislation for a partial amendment to the enforcement regulations of the Medical Service Act that contains these details.
By revising the enforcement rules, the ministry made it mandatory to leave the names and roles of medical personnel, such as doctors who entered the operating room, as well as the date and time, method, details, duration, and progress of the surgery. This is because ghost surgeries and proxy surgeries continue to occur despite institutional supplements such as the mandatory installation of CCTV in operating rooms.
Earlier, at a roundtable in Jul., the Ministry of Health and Welfare said stakeholders, including the Korean Medical Association Organization and the Korean Hospital Association, agreed with the purpose of the amendment.
In addition, the ministry also gave advance notice of legislation for a partial amendment to the rules on administrative dispositions related to medical services that would strengthen the penalties imposed when a non-medical person is made to perform medical procedures such as surgery.
The essence of the amendment is to reduce administrative dispositions when a person who engaged in unlicensed medical practice self-reports, while extending from the current three months to six months the suspension period for the license of a medical professional who instigated unlicensed medical practice.