""A doctor who conducted 4,000 cases of artificial joint replacement surgery in a year"" Ministry of Health and Welfare "Investigation into illegality""
Oct 10, 2024
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"It appears to be a very large number. I'll investigate whether it's illegal or not"
This is the question and answer of Rep. Park Hee-seung (Democratic Party of Korea, Health and Welfare Committee) and Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong at the National Assembly on the 7th.
On the same day, Rep. Park Hee-seung released 'Data on the Status of Top 10 Claims such as Artificial Joint Replacement in the First Half of 2019~2024' from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (hereinafter referred to as the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service).
According to the data, a doctor performed an average of more than 3,400 artificial joint replacements each year alone. The bill is also more than 1.4 billion won per year on average.
During this period, it was estimated that 4016 artificial joint replacements were performed in 2019.
On this day, Rep. Park Hee-seung said, `Even if we only take one day off during the week, an average of 13 surgeries were performed per day.' `Do you think it's realistically possible?," he asked Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyu-hong.
In response, Minister Cho said, `I don't know the medical field well, but I think the number is very high"We will investigate whether it is illegal through the cooperation of the Board of Appeals."," he replied.
In addition, Rep. Park said in a media interview that `The surrogate surgery and surgical assistance are completely different and are recognized by the society and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.' However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said that nursing assistants cannot perform medical support work. If so, didn't the hospital director, who says he performed surgery assistance through a nursing assistant, admit that he performed surrogate surgery?," he queried.
Minister Cho replied, "'Even in the current medical law or the passed nursing law, a nursing assistant is not allowed to perform surgery assistance by a doctor.'
Rep. Park also questioned administrative measures related to this.
Rep. Park said, `In last year's parliamentary audit, the Minister of Health and Welfare is taking administrative measures when he is notified of the results of the trial. In the future, it will take a long time to reach the outcome of the trial, so we will consult with the National Police Agency to take administrative measures as soon as we are notified of the details of the charges.' Is there anything different from the previous one?"I asked.
Minister Cho said that `the matters requiring the cooperation of the law enforcement authorities' will be strengthened to promptly dispose of matters that require urgent disposition, such as proxy surgery, in consultation with the law enforcement authorities.'
Rep. Park then asked "The Ministry of Health and Welfare to clearly set standards for surrogate surgery, ghost surgery, and surgical assistance and take strict measures against illegal activities." Minister Cho said "I agree" Minister Cho said earlier, `Substitute surgery is clearly subject to punishment and should be eradicated" he said.
Rep. Park stressed that "(In order to protect the life and human rights of patients, strict law enforcement should be carried out against surrogate surgery by unqualified persons.'
When allegations of surrogate and ghost surgery were raised, civic groups urged the hospital to disclose the name and hospital director.
Civic groups, including the Civil Rights Council and the National Solidarity for Public Interest Surveillance, held a press conference in front of the National Assembly on the 8th and demanded that the real names of doctors and surgical hospitals who have performed more than 17,000 surgeries, including artificial joint replacement, alone over the past five years.
Civic groups pointed out that "appropriate measures must be taken at the government level to eradicate unlicensed medical practices and ghost surgeries to protect the lives and safety of the people."
Meanwhile, a total of 10 people, including the head of hospital A, four orthopedic surgeons, a nursing assistant, and four salespeople of a medical device company, were indicted without detention in May on charges of violating the medical law and are currently on trial.
The head of hospital A denies the allegations of surrogate surgery and claims that it was a simple treatment assistance, not a surrogate surgery.
The hospital, which has been open for 21 years, is known as a famous joint and spine hospital in Gangnam, Seoul, and has been designated as a joint hospital for three consecutive times by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The head of Hospital A here has been active in various broadcasts and YouTube until recently.
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bellho@sportschosun.com
