If proton and heavy-ion therapy centers are designated and their equipment costs subsidized, are the provisions on eligible equipment and the secretariat drafted consistently? Five questions on Bill No. 2221867 to amend the Cancer Control Act

Which stage's materials were read?

This article reads a member's legislative bill proposed to the National Assembly. The National Participation Legislation Center screen shows that Representative Park Yong-gap and 11 others proposed it on October 12, 2026, and that it was referred to the Health and Welfare Committee on October 13, 2026. No committee deliberation or plenary session resolution is shown.

The original text was read from the PDF of the full text of the bill. The reasons for the proposal explain that heavy-ion and proton therapy equipment in Korea is concentrated in the metropolitan area, so that cancer patients in provincial regions must travel for treatment, and that the introduction of equipment is difficult because there is no policy financing for hospitals, and they cite cases from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Japan. This article did not separately verify the facts of those cases, and conveys them only to the extent that the original text wrote them so.

Sources for this section: National Participation Legislation Center, National Assembly Legislative Status: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) · PDF of the Full Text of the Bill: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) (Representative proposer: Park Yong-gap)

What the current provisions now provide

Article 5 of the current Cancer Control Act has the Minister of Health and Welfare establish a comprehensive cancer control plan every five years after deliberation by the National Cancer Control Committee, and paragraph (2) contains five items: basic objectives, implementation methods, training of professional personnel, follow-up management, and other matters. Article 6 places the National Cancer Control Committee under the Minister of Health and Welfare.

Article 19 prescribes the designation of regional cancer centers. Paragraph (1) allows a general hospital meeting the standards prescribed by Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare to be designated as a regional cancer center for each si and do, and the cited provision is written as Article 3 (2) 3 (ma) of the Medical Service Act. In Article 3 (2) 3 of the Medical Service Act as of the verification date, item (ma) is psychiatric hospitals and item (ba) is general hospitals. Article 19 (5) requires that the designation be revoked where the designation was obtained by falsehood, and permits discretionary revocation where the standards are not met or the project is not carried out, etc., and Article 48 requires a hearing before such revocation of designation.

Article 46 enumerates, from subparagraph 1 through subparagraph 10, the costs that the State and local governments may support. These include the expansion of facilities and equipment of regional cancer centers, cancer registration statistics, cancer screening, and the establishment of a treatment system for childhood and adolescent cancer, and particle therapy equipment is not included. There is no provision in the current Act for loans to, or interest support for, medical institutions.

Sources for this section: National Law Information Center: Cancer Control Act (Act No. 21262, effective March 31, 2026) · National Law Information Center: Medical Service Act, Article 3 (Act No. 21490, effective October 2, 2026)

What the bill seeks to change

The amendment adds designation and support plans for regional proton and heavy-ion therapy centers as item (5) in Article 5 (2). Article 8-2 establishes a Proton and Heavy-Ion Therapy Center Secretariat under the Minister of Health and Welfare to support the establishment and implementation of these plans, and permits part of the Work to be delegated to the National Cancer Center.

Article 19-2 designates as particle therapy centers, among general hospitals under Article 3 (2) 3 (ba) of the Medical Service Act, those meeting the standards prescribed by Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in consideration of the advancement, accessibility, and suitability of the technology, the possibility of meeting diverse medical needs, the regional balance of medical resources, and the number of patients treatable annually and the number of professional personnel. The Work is proton therapy and heavy-ion therapy and follow-up management, and grounds for revocation of designation and grounds for requesting the provision of materials are prescribed. Article 48 is amended so that a hearing is held also for revocation of this designation.

The costs have two branches. Article 46 (11) adds as an object of support the installation costs of proton therapy equipment or neutron therapy equipment of particle therapy centers, and new Article 46-2 permits the State and local governments to lend to medical institutions the installation costs of that equipment at long-term low interest, or to support the interest on loans from financial institutions. The supplementary provisions take effect one year after promulgation, and require the comprehensive plan to be changed within one year after enforcement.

Sources for this section: PDF of the Full Text of the Bill: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) (Representative proposer: Park Yong-gap)

Does the neutron therapy equipment in the support provision mean heavy-ion therapy equipment?

The reasons for the proposal, Article 5 (2) 5, Article 8-2, and Article 19-2 all speak of proton and heavy-ion therapy. However, Article 46 (11) and Article 46-2 (1) and (2), which prescribe the costs, write proton therapy equipment or neutron therapy equipment. In the original PDF, the word neutron appears only in these two provisions of the amended text and the table comparing new and old provisions.

Neutron and heavy-ion are different terms. Read as the provisions are written, the equipment used for the heavy-ion therapy performed by a particle therapy center does not fall within the wording of the objects of cost support and loans, while neutron therapy equipment, which is not part of the Center's Work, does. Whether this is a typographical error or the intended scope needs to be confirmed as to the wording in the committee deliberation.

Sources for this section: PDF of the Full Text of the Bill: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) (Representative proposer: Park Yong-gap)

Is the Secretariat under the National Cancer Control Committee or under the Minister?

The reasons for the proposal write that a proton and heavy-ion therapy secretariat will be established under the National Cancer Control Committee. Article 8-2 (1) of the amended text provides that a Secretariat is established under the Minister of Health and Welfare. Since under current Article 6 the National Cancer Control Committee itself is also under the Minister, the two expressions may carry the same meaning, but whether it is a subordinate body of the Committee or an organization directly under the Minister changes the chain of command and reporting for its Work.

The Work of the Secretariat is stated to be the establishment of designation and support plans and support for their implementation, and its organization and operation are entrusted to Presidential Decree. The original text does not determine whether the Secretariat is involved in the review of designation of particle therapy centers that the Minister designates and revokes, nor whether designation-related Work is included in the part of the Work that may be delegated to the National Cancer Center. The reasons for the proposal write that the National Cancer Center itself operates proton therapy equipment, so when the scope of delegation is set, one may ask how conflicts of interest will be addressed.

Sources for this section: PDF of the Full Text of the Bill: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) (Representative proposer: Park Yong-gap) · National Law Information Center: Cancer Control Act (Act No. 21262, effective March 31, 2026)

Do loans and interest support go only to designated centers?

The cost support under Article 46 (11) limits the object to the equipment installation costs of particle therapy centers. By contrast, Article 46-2 writes that the State and local governments may lend to medical institutions when equipment installation is necessary, so medical institutions that have not been designated are also covered as a matter of wording.

Placed together are the intent of making regional balance a designation criterion and financial support that can be received without designation. Whether metropolitan-area medical institutions may also become subject to loans, what becomes of loans received by a center whose designation has been revoked, and who judges the need for support are all entrusted to Presidential Decree. How far this part is to be fixed in the Act remains a remaining issue.

Sources for this section: PDF of the Full Text of the Bill: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) (Representative proposer: Park Yong-gap)

Can the regional balance and the number of patients treatable annually, as designation criteria, be satisfied together?

Article 19-2 (1) requires consideration of the regional balance of medical resources together with the number of patients treatable annually and the number of professional personnel. A place with many patients and much personnel is likely to be a large general hospital in the metropolitan area, and depending on which of the two criteria is given more weight, the designation result may differ. The original text entrusts the weights and the regional unit to Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Whereas Article 19-2 correctly cites general hospitals as Article 3 (2) 3 (ba) of the Medical Service Act, Article 19 (1) of the current Act, in the same Section, remains as item (ma). Since this amendment does not amend Article 19 (1), a state arises in which, within the same Section, the same general hospital is cited by two different items.

Sources for this section: PDF of the Full Text of the Bill: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) (Representative proposer: Park Yong-gap) · National Law Information Center: Medical Service Act, Article 3 (Act No. 21490, effective October 2, 2026)

To which hospitals, and up to what materials, does the request for provision of materials reach?

Article 19-2 (5) provides that the Minister of Health and Welfare may request necessary materials from general hospitals for Work prescribed by Presidential Decree, such as the designation and revocation of particle therapy centers and proton and heavy-ion therapy and follow-up management for cancer patients, and that a general hospital receiving a request must comply unless there are special reasons. As a matter of wording, the counterparty is not the particle therapy center but all general hospitals.

If the materials concern treatment and follow-up management, they may include individual patients' medical information. The original text does not determine the kinds of materials that may be requested, the method of handling personal information, or the effect of non-compliance, and entrusts only the scope of the Work to Presidential Decree. Whether general hospitals that have not applied for designation are also subject to the duty to respond, and whether patient information must undergo de-identification (pseudonymization), etc., may be asked in the committee deliberation.

There is no such provision on the request for provision of materials in the current Article 19 provisions on regional cancer centers. The reason why, while regional cancer centers and particle therapy centers are placed in the same Section, a duty to provide materials arises only for one of them is likewise not explained in the original text.

Sources for this section: PDF of the Full Text of the Bill: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) (Representative proposer: Park Yong-gap) · National Law Information Center: Cancer Control Act (Act No. 21262, effective March 31, 2026)

Commencement and remaining issues

Article 1 of the supplementary provisions takes effect one year after the date of promulgation, and Article 2 has the Minister change the comprehensive plan within one year after enforcement so that it includes designation and support plans. Since current Article 5 has the comprehensive plan established every five years, this becomes a change in the middle of the cycle. Whether a change also passes through deliberation by the National Cancer Control Committee is not written in the transitional provisions.

The remaining issues are the textual mismatch between neutron and heavy-ion, the difference between the reasons for the proposal and the amended text regarding the affiliation of the Secretariat, the objects of financial support that appear to have no relation to whether designation is granted, and the weighting of the designation criteria. Since this article read only the original text at the stage of referral to the competent committee on October 16, 2026, whether subsequent amendment bills or substitute bills have been reflected needs to be checked again. Insofar as cost support and loans entail fiscal expenditure, the cost estimate and the government's opinion are also left as matters to be checked together.

Sources for this section: PDF of the Full Text of the Bill: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867) (Representative proposer: Park Yong-gap) · National Participation Legislation Center, National Assembly Legislative Status: Partial Amendment to the Cancer Control Act (Bill No. 2221867)