The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday it would recommend Oriental medicine hospitals with more than 30 beds to go through a service quality assessment, starting next year.

Hospitals, if approved by inspection authorities, would be awarded service quality certification by the ministry, officials said. The quality of medical service, sanitary control and staff management will be examined by commissioners from the Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation for hospitals that apply for the public assessment.

The ministry began assessing the service quality of medical institutions in 2010. The evaluation process is not mandatory for oriental hospitals but is for psychiatric hospitals or sanatoriums.

“So far, there has been no standard set up for oriental medicine hospitals to evaluate their service quality. The plan is to enhance overall service quality of oriental medicine hospitals for patients,” an official said.

(christory@heraldcorp.com)