Telemedicine Services Expanded to Include Community Health Centers

The government has decided to allow community health centers to provide telemedicine services amid the prolonged collective action by trainee doctors. 

The health and welfare ministry said that starting Wednesday, telemedicine services will be expanded to include 246 public health centers and one-thousand-341 smaller community health centers across the nation at the request of some local governments. 

The ministry said that South Jeolla Province and some local governments had made the request due to concerns of a possible vacuum in regional public health centers following the dispatch of public health doctors to major hospitals. 

With the implementation of telemedicine systems, patients with mild diseases will be able to consult doctors and receive prescriptions from local public health centers through remote online services.  

The health ministry plans to revise related guidelines and provide detailed information to local governments on Wednesday. 

The government earlier expanded telemedicine services at medical institutions to include all hospitals and clinics on February 23, right after trainee doctors left their worksites.