Countermeasures should be strengthened to prevent individuals or government from abusing this health information or profiting from it. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Jan. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — Most South Koreans are willing to tolerate the sharing and use of their health information, measured by smartphone applications, for public good such as the development of treatments for incurable diseases.
According to an online survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade on 500 ordinary citizens, 78 percent said they were willing to allow their personal bio data to be shared and utilized for the public good.
Bio data here refers to personal medical and health information measured by mobile devices such as smartphones. However, only 8.2 percent said they trust the government’s policies and social systems.
This suggests that countermeasures should be strengthened to prevent individuals or government from abusing this health information or profiting from it.
The share of people who said they have experience measuring individual health information, such as exercise, weight and blood pressure on mobile devices came to 69.8 percent, up more than fourfold from 16.7 percent three years ago.
About half of the respondents were aware that the measured personal health information was being stored and managed on the servers of related companies through health care apps.
This is lower than the 74.2 percent rate at which individuals’ medical information, such as hospital medical records, are kept and managed at hospitals and clinics and on the National Health Insurance Service’s servers.
It also showed that 76.8 percent of individuals think they have “the right to self-determination to manage.”
However, only half of the respondents recognized that medical personnel and researchers are using individuals’ medical information for research and development and writing papers under the consent of patients.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
