The Ministry of Health and Welfare will begin in earnest to gather public input to select agenda items for the Medical Innovation Committee.
The ministry said on the 8th that it held the second meeting of the Medical Innovation Citizens Panel Steering Committee and finalized plans to gather public opinions to be reflected in the Medical Innovation Committee's discussions.
The Citizens Panel Steering Committee is a body established within the Medical Innovation Committee to expand public participation in the medical innovation discussion process and to ensure fairness and transparency in deliberation. It gathers opinions on matters deemed to require public input during the Medical Innovation Committee's discussions and offers recommendations to the committee.
At this meeting, the steering committee decided to pursue, as public participation methods for selecting agenda items for the Medical Innovation Committee, ▲ a regional listening tour to gather opinions ▲ and a nationwide survey to examine patterns of medical use. The regional listening tour will be used as basic data to hear about people's experiences using medical services and their needs for medical innovation.
In addition, if requested by the Medical Innovation Committee, it plans to conduct an additional survey to determine the priority of agenda items.
The steering committee will begin the regional listening tour at the end of this month, release related content on YouTube, and conduct the nationwide survey in early Feb. The collected regional opinions and survey results will be submitted to the Medical Innovation Committee by the end of Feb.
Citizens Panel Steering Committee Chair Kim Hak-rin said, "Healthcare is something everyone experiences, yet it is also an area with strong expertise and individuality," adding, "The steering committee will do its part to ensure that the public's diverse experiences and voices are reflected in the medical innovation discussions."
The steering committee plans to hold its third meeting at the end of this month to finalize the survey questions and review progress on the regional listening tour.