Major physician groups, including the Korean Medical Association Organization, have called on the government and local governments to halt support for traditional Korean medicine infertility treatments and to require scientific verification.
The Korean Medical Association Organization, the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Obstetricians and Gynecologists Association under the direct election system held a press conference on the 3rd at the association hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and said, "Traditional Korean medicine infertility treatments being promoted without scientific evidence and safety verification are threatening the health of mothers and the lives of fetuses," making this claim.
The groups said infertility treatment is "a highly specialized medical field directly tied to the health and lives of couples and the safety of fetuses," and pointed out that "even so, attempts to have the state support or incorporate into the formal system traditional Korean medicine infertility treatments that have not been sufficiently scientifically verified directly threaten the public's right to health."
Citing Medical Policy Research Institute's publication, "Analysis of the status and problems of local governments' support projects for traditional Korean medicine infertility treatment," the groups explained that the clinical pregnancy rate of the traditional Korean medicine infertility project, which had a total of 4,473 participants across 103 local governments from 2017 to 2019, averaged 12.5%. They said this is only about half the natural pregnancy rate (about 25% or higher) during the same period.
They also said, "Many herbal prescriptions used in infertility treatment contain ingredients that have been flagged for risks of fetal deformity, miscarriage, and organ toxicity when used during pregnancy," and added, "It is unacceptable to recommend to women with infertility a treatment that does not guarantee even minimal safety and to fund it with state finances."
The physician groups said that in this situation, support projects for traditional Korean medicine infertility treatment are expanding, centered on local governments, and urged the government and local governments to immediately halt such projects whose scientific basis and safety have not been proven. They also demanded a comprehensive investigation into the toxicity and teratogenic potential of all herbal ingredients used in infertility treatment and called for the results to be made public.
The groups also said, "We welcome the recent request by the traditional Korean medicine community to hold a public hearing on the efficacy and safety of traditional Korean medicine infertility treatment," and urged, "The government should host a public hearing in which the medical community and the traditional Korean medicine community participate on equal footing and verify the efficacy and safety of traditional Korean medicine infertility treatment."