"1.8 Million Users of Office-Managed Hospitals and License-Leased Pharmacies Over 6 Years"

Assemblywoman Kim Nam-hee, 347 Illegal Medical Institutions and 144 Pharmacies

Over the past six years, the number of patients who used illegally established hospitals and clinics operated by non-medical managers reached 717,000, and the number of patients who used illegally established pharmacies with license lending reached 1.1 million.

Illegally managed hospitals by non-medical managers refer to illegal medical institutions operated under the name of medical personnel or non-profit corporations by non-medical persons, while license lending pharmacies refer to cases where a pharmacy is illegally operated by someone who is not a pharmacist.

According to data submitted by the National Health Insurance Service to Kim Nam-hee, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of patients treated at 347 illegally established medical institutions nationwide from 2019 to 2024 was counted at 717,812.

Outpatients numbered 569,909, inpatients 51,218, and surgical patients and emergency patients were 68,468 and 28,217 respectively.

During the same period, the number of patients who used 144 illegally established pharmacies also reached 1,107,681.

Earlier, Representative Kim revealed that the financial leakage of the National Health Insurance due to illegal activities of such medical institutions and pharmacies amounted to 1.4403 trillion won, and that it takes more than six years to detect illegal medical institutions and more than seven years for pharmacies.

Representative Kim stated, "Nearly 2 million patients have used illegally established medical institutions and pharmacies that cannot guarantee the quality of medical services over the past six years. Considering that it takes more than seven years to detect illegal medical institutions, the response of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service, which are responsible for crackdowns and detection, seems very insufficient," and emphasized, "Even before the National Health Insurance Service is granted special judicial police authority, joint crackdowns with the Ministry of Health and Welfare are possible, so stronger detection measures are necessary."