This Jan. 11 photo shows a pharmacy located in Seoul. (Yonhap)
This Jan. 11 photo shows a pharmacy located in Seoul. (Yonhap)

“Honestly, can you think of any aspect of a pharmacist's task that artificial intelligence cannot replace?”

This question, posed by Rep. Lee Jun-seok on Saturday and reported by a local media outlet Monday, has South Korean pharmacists fuming.

The Korean Pharmaceutical Association on Tuesday denounced the 35-year-old lawmaker, calling his perspective to their profession “childish.”

"We strongly decry Rep. Lee for disparaging the value of pharmacists through his arrogant and ignorant comments," the KPA said in a statement.

During a doctors’ seminar on Saturday, Rep. Lee, who was ousted as chair of the ruling People Power Party, before founding the Reform Party and being elected to the Assembly last year, said that he believes pharmacists are among those whose jobs were most threatened by the development of AI technology.

“Even now, when you go to a pharmacy, dispenser machines put the medication into pouches," he said. "Pharmacists would say counseling on medication is important. Of course, it's an important task. But (medication counseling) is also an area that can be easily replaced with just an (AI) speaker."

Urging a proactive and forward-looking approach, he went on to say that Korean pharmacists should be more open to expanding the use of vending machines for over-the-counter medicines. He suggested pharmacists themselves should be interested in operating such machines in front of their pharmacy to prevent their profits being cut considerably.

In South Korea, only around 10 such vending machines are reportedly in operation.

The pharmaceutical industry here has been opposing use of such vending machines since the first version of it here appeared back in 2013, which was pulled out just after two months in operation by the government for violating Article 50-1 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. It states that no pharmacist or drug distributor shall distribute drugs outside of one's pharmacy or shop, and there have been debates on interpretation of this particular article since.

The consensus of the industry has been that using vending machines for medicine infringes upon the principle of the in-person administering of medicine.

"A pharmacist is consulted by the patient, reviews use of drugs, monitors the side effects (from medication), and does not simply make drugs. ... The job can never be replaced by a vending machine," the pharmacists' group said in Tuesday's statement.

It said Lee's comment is an insult to the occupation of pharmacy itself, and urged him to retract the comment and apologize for it.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com