In this year's NA Audit, the Minister of Health and Welfare Kyoo-Hong Cho said that he would prioritize the ‘dispensing of substitute drugs’ as a solution to the problem of unstable supply of medicines such as cold medicines that are often out of stock.

Two bills related to alternative dispensing were submitted to the National Assembly on the 28th, including a bill to amend the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, which was introduced as representative by Rep. Byung-Duk Kim and Rep. Soo-Jin Lee of the Democratic Party of Korea.

The bills aim to enable pharmacy pharmacists to substitute prescribed drugs with other generic versions that have undergone bioequivalence tests certified by the head o