The medical crisis sparked by conflicts between doctors and the government will officially end after 1 year and 8 months. The government said on the 17th it will lift the highest "serious" level of the public health crisis alert, issued due to a mass resignation by resident doctors, at 12 a.m. on the 20th. The emergency care system will also be lifted.
Minister of Health and Welfare Jung Eun-kyeong said this at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on collective action by doctors held at the government complex in Seoul that day. Jung said, "The medical system is operating stably," adding, "With resident doctors returning, patient volume has recovered to 95% of the level before emergency care, and the emergency medical system has nearly regained its capacity."
Measures implemented under the banner of emergency care will end. As it operated the emergency care system, the government raised emergency room reimbursement rates (money the National Health Insurance Service pays hospitals) and made advance payments of National Health Insurance benefits to training hospitals. All medical institutions were allowed to provide telemedicine without distinguishing between first-time and follow-up visits.
Fees related to emergency care will be adjusted after a vote by the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee at the end of this month. The minister said, "We will end the fees that were temporarily maintained, but convert some items that proved effective for maintaining the emergency medical system into standard fees," adding, "We will move to institutionalize measures such as telemedicine and hospitalist specialists."
She also said, "I apologize to patients and families who experienced inconvenience in the field due to conflicts between doctors and the government (since February last year)," adding, "I thank the medical staff who protected lives at patients' sides despite difficult conditions, the 119 emergency rescue teams, and public officials."