- Date2020-03-26
Global attention toward Korea’s fight against COVID-19
- Requests to share HIRA’s pandemic crisis response plans with other nations-
□ To strengthen international collaboration in order to overcome the current pandemic and prevent further spread of COVID-19, the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (President Seung-taik Kim, hereinafter “HIRA”) has decided to share HIRA’s experience with and response measures toward COVID-19.
○ The decision was made following the WHO’s declaration of a pandemic on March 11.
□ Starting last week, countries from all around the world have asked HIRA to share how it
has dealt with the COVID-19 crisis.
○ These requests started with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India on March 13 and additional requests have continued to come in from other institutions including the Ministry of Health of Armenia and World Bank officials from Colombia, Mexico, and the Caucasus regions.
○ HIRA first urges CORVID-19-related inquiries from individual countries to be made through official channels, such as through the respective embassy or Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For national-level cases, HIRA refers inquirers to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters website: ncov.mohw.go.kr/en.
○ Furthermore, HIRA received a request from the Bahrain Supreme Council of Health to design a dashboard to help understand the current nationwide status of COVID-19 outbreaks. As such, HIRA designed 15 types of dashboard and has provided them to Bahrain.
□ However, HIRA’s response measures to COVID-19 can be shared more specifically depending on the nature of the request by a given agency.
○ Securing Safe Healthcare Delivery: Designate Public Relief Hospitals which provide segregated treatment for non-respiratory and respiratory patients to prevent the virus from spreading.
○ Preventing COVID-19 spread: Provide inbound travelers’ information linked with the Drug Utilization Review service (DUR) and International Traveler Information System (ITS) to healthcare institutions and pharmacies.
○ Updating Benefits Package: Provide support to update the health benefits package and price of testing and treatment related to COVID-19.
○ Securing Drug Supply: Provide information about “Drug Wholesalers’ COVID-19 Treatment Stock Availability According to Region” via the Korea Pharmaceutical Information Service (KPIS).
○ Stabilizing Mask Supply: Provide real-time information about “Mask Inventory of Nearby Pharmacies” to inform the public of officially designated mask sellers.
○ Providing Support for Self-Monitoring: Provide help monitoring the development of COVID-19 symptoms and accessing interpretation services (including English, Chinese, Japanese) to people in Korea using the Self-Diagnosis app.
□ In this regard, HIRA President Seung-taik said that HIRA hopes to support the international health authorities’ endless efforts to protect global public health and prevent the spread of COVID-19 by sharing HIRA’s transparent and rapid response toward the COVID-19 pandemic.
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