The Korean Medical Association (KMA) on Sunday rebuked the medical device distribution industry, stating that "calculating supplies needed for patient care purely in terms of economic gain poses serious ethical problems," as supply instability for syringes and other medical consumables continues amid the prolonged U.S.-Iran conflict.
Kim Sung-keun, spokesperson for the KMA, made the remarks at a regular briefing held at the KMA headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. "As if mocking the government's efforts to ease concerns over medical consumable supply, some distributors are selling products at more than five times the original price, or marking products as sold out on their original shopping malls while selling them at inflated prices on other platforms such as Coupang," Kim said.
"This amounts to pursuing only their own profits in the midst of a national crisis," Kim said, urging members to "report such cases of unjust enrichment to the reporting center of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) if confirmed."
According to related ministries including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, current production volumes of major naphtha-related medical products, including syringes, injection needles, pharmaceutical packaging, and syrup bottles, show little difference compared with the previous year. The government explained that even syringes, which had faced the most severe supply instability, are seeing production volumes trending upward year-on-year. However, clinical sites complain that product shortages continue at the distribution stage. The government has issued a notification prohibiting the hoarding of syringes and injection needles, and is operating a reporting center at the MFDS.
The KMA also reaffirmed its opposition to a partial amendment bill to the Medical Service Technologists Act currently pending in the National Assembly. Current law defines medical service technologists as those who perform duties under the guidance of physicians or dentists. In contrast, the amendment proposed by Rep. Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party of Korea and others expands the scope of duty performance to "guidance, prescription, or referral." The medical community is outraged, calling it an attempt to shake up the licensing and healthcare systems. The bill is likely to be submitted to the first subcommittee for bill review of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee on June 28.
Yoon Joon-sik, chairman of the Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine, attended the briefing and expressed concern, saying, "The amendment would set a harmful precedent allowing medical service technologists to perform treatment outside medical institutions based solely on a prescription, without direct guidance or supervision from a physician. It could cause confusion in duty assignments at medical sites and pose risks to patients."
