The Health Insurance Review Agency said Monday...the number of individual clinics requesting a national insurance corporation to pay for medical treatment came to a record high of over 20,000 in the first quarter of this year.

An official of the Ministry of Health and Welfare said....this is due to the many doctors who previously worked at general hospitals opening their own clinics with income from individual businesses rising after a new medical law took effect.

With the law in effect from last July, doctors are not allowed to sell medication and pharmacists cannot dispense strong drugs without a prescription.

Previously, Korean pharmacists served as quasi-doctors, diagnosing and dispensing medication upon request. Doctors similarly prescribed and sold medication.

The agency said...clinics receiving payments from the National Health Insurance Corp. (NHIC) numbered 19,340 in the third quarter of last year and rose one percent to 19,688 units in the fourth quarter.

The numbers stood at 20,256 units in the first quarter of this year, up 2 percent, or 568 clinics, from the previous quarter