Ministry of Health and Welfare approves enforcement ordinance mandating suicide prevention education
The Ministry of Health and Welfare approved a partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Suicide Prevention Act at the Cabinet meeting on the 9th, mandating ‘suicide prevention education’ at least once a year in schools, public institutions, local governments, and social welfare facilities.
This revision is scheduled to be promulgated in July 2023 and take effect in December. In accordance with the Suicide Prevention Act, suicide prevention education will be conducted once a year at the national and local governments, public institutions, schools, social welfare facilities, and medical institutions, and the results will be reported to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Or, it must be submitted to the relevant ministry.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare expanded the scope of suicide prevention education in its enforcement ordinance and specifically stipulated education methods, frequency, and method of submitting results.
As a result, alternative education institutions were also included as targets of suicide prevention education.
Suicide prevention education is divided into ‘awareness improvement education’ that emphasizes ‘respect for life’ and ‘life protection education’ that teaches how to respond to the problem of suicide.
Training must be conducted at least once a year through various methods such as group, audio-visual, and internet, and the implementing organization must report the results to the Ministry of Health and Welfare by January of the following year.
At the Cabinet meeting on this day, partial amendments to the ‘Enforcement Decree of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act’ and the ‘Enforcement Decree of the Health and Medical Technology Promotion Act’ were also approved.
The amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act entrusts the task of cracking down on illegally opened pharmacies, including office pharmacies, to the National Health Insurance Corporation and includes provisions to strengthen cooperation with the Pharmaceutical Association and Oriental Medicine Association.
The amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Health and Medical Technology Promotion Act stipulates that medical institutions certified as research-oriented hospitals can establish a medical technology cooperation group, and specifies the establishment and scope of work of the cooperation group.
Editor. Seyeong Hong
