Health Minister Cho Kyu-hong: "Attracting 13 Trillion Won in Private Investment through Health Data Regulation Improvement"

Legislation on Introduction of Third-Party Transmission Request Rights and Guidelines for Use of Pseudonymized Information

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, announced the introduction of a 'third-party transmission right' for health and medical data, aiming to attract 13 trillion KRW in private investment by 2026.

At the 11th Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting held on the 27th, Minister Cho stated, "We will definitely improve regulations related to health and medical data," adding, "if the individual consents, medical institutions will be able to transmit personal medical information to a third party equipped with a secure management system."

Under current law, individuals can receive their medical information from medical institutions and provide it directly to other organizations, but medical institutions cannot transmit it directly to third parties.

Minister Cho also said, "We will concretize guidelines to actively utilize pseudonymized data in the medical field and legislate them." Through this, the plan is to promote medical-related research and contribute to improving public health.

Under the current Personal Information Protection Act, pseudonymized information can be used without consent only for scientific research, statistical compilation, and public interest record preservation purposes. However, in the case of medical information, the Medical Service Act and Bioethics Act take precedence, making the usability ambiguous. Accordingly, the government plans to legislate the pseudonymized information utilization guidelines for health and medical data, which are currently operated as guidelines, to clarify the interrelationship between laws and promote utilization.

National research and development (R&D) investment, which acts as a catalyst for private investment, will also be expanded. Minister Cho stated, "We will establish a 1 trillion KRW K-Bio Vaccine Fund and support the development of global blockbuster new drugs generating annual sales of over 1 trillion KRW by 2030 through 5.5 trillion KRW in R&D investment."

In addition, the government will invest 700 billion KRW by 2029 to secure technologies for legal vaccines and antiviral agents. Through this, the plan is to increase South Korea's share in the global bio market to double digits within 10 years.