As COVID-19 spreads at a faster than expected rate during the summer pandemic, shortages of treatments are continuing.
Accordingly, the government announced a plan to invest 326.8 billion won in reserve funds to supply an additional 260,000 doses by the end of this month, but criticism is being raised that “this is because the government excessively cut the budget for purchasing treatments even though it was already aware of the outbreak.”
According to data submitted by the office of Rep. Kim Sun-min of the Democratic Party of Korea to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 20th, the number of coronavirus treatments (Paxrobid, Lagebrio) introduced in the first and second quarters of this year was 179,000.
However, this is only half the amount of 341,000 people introduced in the same period last year.
Accordingly, while the accumulated reserves in the second quarter of last year amounted to 529,000 people, the reserves in the second quarter of this year decreased to 206,000 people.
Rep. Kim Sun-min criticized, “The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced that it expected the number of COVID-19 patients to increase by the end of this month, considering the epidemic trend over the past two years,” adding, “It is unbecoming of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency to have predicted an epidemic but not sufficiently introduced and stockpiled treatments.”
However, Professor Lee Jae-gap of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital claimed that the KCDC’s actions were due to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance drastically cutting the budget.
The professor appeared on a YTN radio program that morning and said, “Since the epidemic was small last winter, we should have thought that many people could catch it in the summer, but we failed to predict a cure,” but added, “In fact, it is not only the responsibility of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.”
He then claimed, “The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency requested more budget for securing treatments, but the Ministry of Strategy and Finance did not approve it.”
In fact, the budget for this year’s disease control agency, which was confirmed at the plenary session of the National Assembly on December 21 last year, was a total of 1.6303 trillion won, of which 179.8 billion won was for purchasing COVID-19 treatments. This is a 53.2% (204.5 billion won) cut from last year’s budget of 384.3 billion won for purchasing COVID-19 treatments.
However, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said that the cost of purchasing coronavirus treatments had been reduced by more than half at the time, and that it was “a necessary element before transitioning to the health insurance system.”
An official from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency explained, “The government budget is not cut or otherwise discussed during the deliberation process, but rather an appropriate budget is decided through mutual consultation.” He added, “The budget for purchasing COVID-19 treatments this year was cut because we were considering health insurance listing and set an appropriate budget before listing through consultation.”
Currently, coronavirus treatments are distributed differently from general medicines. The government predicts demand, allocates a budget, contracts directly with pharmaceutical companies to purchase treatments, and supplies them to public health centers. After that, public health centers receive requests for the required quantity from each pharmacy and distribute the treatments.
The coronavirus treatment drugs distributed in this way will ultimately be delivered to high-risk groups in need of treatment, such as the elderly over 60 years of age, immunocompromised patients, and patients with chronic diseases.
However, once listed on the health insurance, pharmacies and hospitals can purchase the treatment directly from the pharmaceutical company, just like general medicines, and patients can purchase it. The government has set a plan to list COVID-19 treatment as a reimbursement treatment by April of this year, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has set aside the necessary budget by April.
However, according to industry officials, negotiations between the government, the National Health Insurance Corporation, and pharmaceutical companies for health insurance listing have not made any significant progress so far.
Since there is a high probability that the current level of drug prices will not be received if the product is listed on health insurance, there is no need for pharmaceutical companies to rush negotiations.
In particular, since the price of a five-day treatment for coronavirus is high at around 700,000 won, industry insiders explain that the fight between the government and pharmaceutical companies over coverage is bound to be fiercer.
Accordingly, discussions on the portion of one’s own share of salary registration are also at a standstill.
Meanwhile, as the summer season approaches and the spread of COVID-19 shows signs of becoming more serious, it is reported that quarantine authorities are also considering purchasing additional treatments.
However, it was not easy to allocate an additional budget as the spread of the disease had not yet been visualized and the epidemic was not expected to be as severe as in the previous winter season.
However, as the number of hospitalized patients increased exponentially and it was expected that by the end of this month, there would be 350,000 patients per week, the highest number since last year, the government hurriedly approved a reserve fund of 326.8 billion won at a Cabinet meeting on the 19th and made plans to sequentially supply 260,000 doses by the end of this month.
A Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency official said, “From last week to this week, approximately 60,000 doses of treatment have been introduced and are being distributed, and an additional 140,000 doses are scheduled to be supplied next week.”
He continued, “The additional treatment purchased this time will be supplied stably until October,” and emphasized, “Starting in October, we will work with the relevant ministries to quickly promote health insurance listing so that the treatment can be supplied like general medicines.”
(Seoul = News 1)
2024-08-21 05:13:07