The government has decided to allow community health centers to provide telemedicine services amid the prolonged collective action by trainee doctors. 

The health ministry said starting Wednesday, telemedicine services will be expanded to include 246 public health centers and one-thousand-341 smaller community health centers across the nation at the request of some local governments.

The ministry said South Jeolla Province and some other local governments had made the request due to concerns over a possible vacuum in regional public health centers following the dispatch of public health doctors to major hospitals.

With the implementation of telemedicine systems, patients with mild illnesses will be able to consult doctors and receive prescriptions from local public health centers through remote online services.

The government earlier expanded telemedicine services to all hospitals and clinics on February 23, soon after trainee doctors left their workplaces in protest of a planned hike of medical school admissions quota.