1972년 남한강 수해지역 복구를 위해 출범한 원주지역 ‘재해대책사업위원회’는 부락개발사업의 일환으로 ‘부락상비약지원사업’을 진행했다. 자금은 서독 가톨릭 외원기관인 미제레오(Misereor)와 카리타스(Caritas)로부터 지원을 받았다. 부락의 대표와 관리자를 선임하고 규약을 마련토록 지원했다. 주민들의 질병을 조사하고 이를 바탕으로 상비약 품목을 정했다. 관련 법령을 사전에 검토한 후 매약행위, 조제행위, 의료행위는 위법사항임을 주지시켰다. 54개의 부락이 지원을 받았다. 1977년 11월 2일 원성군 귀래면 귀운부락에서 상비약과 관련서류가 보건당국에 압수되었다. 위기감을 느낀 부락상비약대표자들은 그해 12월 27일 공동대처하기 위해 연대조직인 ‘마을건강봉사연합회’를 출범시켰다. 한편 가톨릭 원주교구와 행정당국 간 협의를 통해 위법 논란을 해결하는 방향으로 나갔다. 1978년 6월 1일 횡성군 서원면 매호리가 특수장소 지정 허가를 받은 것처럼 이후 여러 부락이 허가를 받았다. 이로써 약사회와 면 단위 이하 매약상과 같은 이해관련자들과의 문제소지가 해결될 것으로 기대했지만, 새로운 암초가 나타났다. 문제는 오히려 특수장소 지정허가를 받은 부락을 중심으로 발생했다. 일부 이장 또는 새마을지도자가 허가권을 얻은 후 상비약운영을 개인영업화하는 지역에서는 상비약사업이 중단되었다.

In 1972, Wonju's “Disaster Relief Committee” was founded to restore the flood damage over the Namhan River area, and it conducted the “village household medicine supply project” as part of the village development activity. The fund was raised from Misereor and Caritas, the Catholic foreign aid agencies of West Germany. The representatives and administrators of villages were appointed with the support provided for necessary rules. A survey was conducted on diseases among residents, and based on the results, household medicine items were decided. After examining related laws and regulations, it became clear that acts of medicine selling, preparation, and treatment would be illegal. Fifty-four villages received the support. On November 2, 1977, health authorities confiscated household medicines and related documents in Gwiun Village, Gwirae-myeon, Wonseong-gun. As this caused a feeling of uneasiness, village household medicine representatives established the “Village Health Service Association,” an organization for a joint response, on December 27 of that year. Efforts were made to address the controversy over illegality through negotiations between the Catholic Wonju Parish and the administrative authorities. On June 1, 1978, Maeho-ri, Seowon-myeon, and Hwengseong-gun obtained the license for a special place; after that, many other villages also obtained the license. This measure solved the problem with interested parties, including the pharmaceutical association and medicine-selling agencies in the Myeon administrative units, but a new obstacle emerged. The trouble came up instead from villages that obtained the license for a special place. After certain village heads or Saemaeul leaders obtained the license, the household medicine project stopped in areas where the household medicine business was operated privately. In August 1978, the Catholic Wonju Parish established the first plan for the “Village Health Service Project.” The provision of “village household medicineoperation,” a part of the first plan, was deleted in the revised plan in June of the following year. The village household medicine supply project initiated in July 1977 proceeded for a short period as an valuable example of regional health service projects in poor, isolated agricultural areas where even drug stores were rare in the 1970s. Under the pressure and regulation of administrative authorities and the hindrance of interested parties, this project struggled with challenges. However, it became a valuable foundation for the Catholic Wonju Parish to seek new ways of providing regional medical services such as anti-TB treatment and hospital service in the 1980s.