Among 7 Members of the Medical License Reissuance Review Committee, 4 Are Doctors
Review Committee Member Votes in Favor of Reissuing License to Doctor Who Caused Mistress's Death by Drug Overdose
Won-i Kim, Member of the National Assembly (Democratic Party, Mokpo-si, Jeollanam-do)
[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Under current law, a medical license in the Republic of Korea can only be revoked if the doctor is sentenced to imprisonment or a heavier penalty for violating medical-related laws. Even if a doctor commits serious crimes such as murder or rape, their medical qualification remains valid.
However, even if a medical license is revoked due to violation of medical-related laws, most doctors who apply for reissuance within 1 to 3 years have their licenses reinstated, and current and former doctors participate in the qualification process for this license reissuance.
According to data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Kim Won-i, a member of the National Assembly from the Democratic Party representing Mokpo City, Jeonnam, a total of 243 doctors had their medical licenses revoked over the past 10 years after being sentenced to imprisonment or heavier penalties for violating the Medical Service Act and other laws.
However, among 81 doctors who applied for medical license reissuance in the past 5 years, 78 except for 3 were all approved for reissuance. This means that 96.3% of medical license reissuance applications were approved.
As the approval of medical license reissuance became an issue, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been approving reissuance through a License Reissuance Review Committee composed of 7 members since this year.
The decision structure requires at least 4 out of 7 committee members to agree. However, to form the current 7-member committee, 4 members inevitably have to be doctors.
In the two committee meetings held this year, the doctor-member expressed approval for the reissuance of a medical license to a person whose license was revoked in 2012 for administering narcotics to his mistress, resulting in her death.
In this review structure, when a medical professional whose prohibition period for license reissuance has passed applies for reissuance, approval is mostly granted regardless of the reason for license revocation.
Looking at the reasons for license revocation among doctors whose licenses were reissued in the past 5 years, serious legal and ethical issues such as rebates, violations of narcotics control laws, operating ghost hospitals, and lending medical licenses are prevalent.
Assemblyman Kim Won-i stated, “With the current composition and decision structure of the medical license reissuance review committee operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the review process is likely to be rendered ineffective,” and added, “Fairness and transparency must be enhanced in decisions on medical license reissuance so that the public can entrust their lives and health to doctors with confidence.”
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