The Ministry of Health and Welfare is pushing to establish a dedicated division for patient affairs after the Patient Basic Act, which enshrines patients' rights and obligations, passed the National Assembly plenary session.
According to government sources on Monday, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety is reviewing the creation of a Patient Safety Division based on an ad hoc organizational restructuring request submitted by the Health Ministry. The proposal is being discussed alongside a separate plan to establish a policy bureau for regional, essential, and public healthcare — known internally as "Ji-Pil-Gong." A decision on the organizational restructuring could come as early as May.
"During the ad hoc restructuring in the second half of last year, we were unable to secure the requested personnel because neither the Ji-Pil-Gong nor patient-related legislation had passed at that time," a Health Ministry official said. "From late last year through recently, so many new bills passed the plenary session that we separately approached the Interior Ministry to request the necessary organizations, including the Ji-Pil-Gong bureau and a Patient Safety Division."
The creation of a dedicated patient policy unit under the Health Ministry has long been a priority demand of patient advocacy groups, alongside the enactment of the Patient Basic Act. However, the groups have called for the establishment of a full "Patient Policy Bureau" that would include a damage relief division in addition to a safety division.
The Health Ministry, however, reportedly determined that a bureau-level request was not feasible given the scope of additional work under the basic act, and instead requested only a division-level unit. With the ministry also focused on building an organization to carry out the Ji-Pil-Gong initiative — a core healthcare policy priority — internal sources say even the creation of a division-level unit remains uncertain.
"There are laws that passed earlier or are considered more urgent, so we cannot be certain about the division's creation," the official said. "There is still time before the law takes effect, and the Interior Ministry may judge that the immediate workload is not heavy enough. But even if the request is not approved, we plan to keep pushing."
The Health Ministry maintains that a dedicated unit is essential, as it must now develop a basic plan every five years and conduct status surveys and research under the new act — on top of existing responsibilities currently scattered across divisions such as the Healthcare Institution Policy Division, including patient safety incident measures.
Calls have also emerged for hiring specialized personnel to handle tasks requiring expertise such as medical device safety reviews.
The Korea Alliance of Patients' Organizations said, "Patients suffered serious harm from the doctor-government conflict and medical service gaps that lasted over a year under the previous administration." The group argued, "Just as the ministry has a Disability Policy Bureau, Population and Children Policy Office, and Senior Policy Office, it should also create a Patient Policy Bureau to fundamentally transform healthcare policy — which has been designed around the medical community and providers — into a patient-centered framework."