ID :
197962
Fri, 07/29/2011 - 06:07
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https://oananews.org//node/197962
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Korea getting a handle on medical tourism industry
(Yonhap Feature) SEOUL, July 29 (Yonhap) -- As health care costs rise around the world and patients grow more frustrated with limited access to quality insurance, large numbers of people are traveling overseas for affordable, cutting-edge medical services. As South Korea's popularity as a medical tourism destination has increased, the industry has grown exponentially over the past decade.
Asia is a hot spot in this trend, particularly big players like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India. With such major competitors nearby, South Korea has boosted its efforts to join those ranks.
A global leader in biotechnology and home to some of the most highly trained medical personnel in the world, South Korea has been investing heavily in research and development in recent years.
Yet, despite such advancement, the debate continues as to whether or not the country's medical tourism industry is living up to its promises.
South Korea still falls well behind its neighbors in terms of visitors. Government statistics show Korea down for 81,789 medical tourism patients last year, compared to Thailand with 1.5 million, Singapore with 720,000 and India with 730,000.
The figures have many in the industry questioning the need for further investment. But what the statistics don't reflect is the role Korea could play in the rapidly evolving industry, and more so the speed at which the country is developing its medical expertise.
Up until now, marketing initiatives were somewhat slow-moving, lacking clear direction in terms of global awareness and brand image.
The state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has been assigned to strengthen the country's overseas promotion of medical tourism. Making medical facilities more foreigner-friendly is of primary concern.
"A significant improvement in this year's revised medical tourism guidelines is that hospitals can now sell drugs to foreign patients without need for a prescription," Jin Soo-nam, an executive director in charge of medical tourism at the KTO, said.
This revision is a major step for South Korea's medical tourism industry. The government has stepped in, easing the issuance of visas for foreigners coming to South Korea for medical tourism.
Furthermore, as part of the newly amended medical tourism guidelines, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced earlier this year that foreign patients are entitled to full insurance packages in the event of an accident.
This had been a matter of grave concern for visiting patients: whether or not South Korea has laws governing medical liability that are as strict as those in other developed countries.
If foreign doctors lack the same level of malpractice insurance, patients may find themselves with very limited recourse.
But this is no longer the case in South Korea. The country's recently revised measures provide more of a stable legal framework for foreigners, alleviating fears of malpractice, discriminatory charging, overpricing and patient privacy rights.
With an IT infrastructure that remains second to none, scores of highly skilled, multilingual medical personnel, affordable pricing, together with leading preventive care and cancer detection facilities, South Korea is only just beginning to get a handle on the industry.
As patients run the risk of post-procedure complications or side effects, perhaps the greatest cause for concern among visiting patients is the follow-up care they require once they return to their home countries.
Many clinics in South Korea have set up networks with overseas hospitals to ensure that patients are provided top-notch care when they return to their home countries.
Seoul National University hospital, the country's leading preventive care facility, takes follow-up measures very seriously.
"All our patients are closely monitored through our exclusive Customer Relationship Management System (CRMS)," explains SNU hospital project manager Borham Kim. "In addition to keeping all patient information safely stored, the system also has an automatic follow-up console system."
"The medical information can then be integrated electronically when they return to their home country to prevent any delay," he said.
But perhaps what sets Korea apart from other countries vying for visiting foreign patients is the dignified manner in which it treats them both before and after surgery.
Jasmin Sciascia and Lynda Sim from New Zealand, for example, traveled to Korea for life-saving weight-loss surgery. In their case, the KTO stepped in to fund the operation and travel expenses as a means of further marketing Korea as a medical tourism destination.
The operation was a great success but so, too, was the way Sciascia says she was treated.
"My experience in Korea was amazing," recounts Sciascia. "I was treated with courtesy and respect from everyone I met when I was in Korea, from staff at the hotel to the people in the medical profession that I came into contact with."
In New Zealand, both had been turned down for publicly funded bariatric surgery by their district health boards. This procedure comes at a high cost, but the results are dramatic.
And the operation has paid off exponentially for Sciascia, who was told she will likely lose up to 100kg in the year following her surgery.
"The desire of the medical professionals to ensure that people were treated humanely and with dignity was obvious and not something that I had experienced here in New Zealand to the same extent," she said.
Asia is a hot spot in this trend, particularly big players like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and India. With such major competitors nearby, South Korea has boosted its efforts to join those ranks.
A global leader in biotechnology and home to some of the most highly trained medical personnel in the world, South Korea has been investing heavily in research and development in recent years.
Yet, despite such advancement, the debate continues as to whether or not the country's medical tourism industry is living up to its promises.
South Korea still falls well behind its neighbors in terms of visitors. Government statistics show Korea down for 81,789 medical tourism patients last year, compared to Thailand with 1.5 million, Singapore with 720,000 and India with 730,000.
The figures have many in the industry questioning the need for further investment. But what the statistics don't reflect is the role Korea could play in the rapidly evolving industry, and more so the speed at which the country is developing its medical expertise.
Up until now, marketing initiatives were somewhat slow-moving, lacking clear direction in terms of global awareness and brand image.
The state-run Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has been assigned to strengthen the country's overseas promotion of medical tourism. Making medical facilities more foreigner-friendly is of primary concern.
"A significant improvement in this year's revised medical tourism guidelines is that hospitals can now sell drugs to foreign patients without need for a prescription," Jin Soo-nam, an executive director in charge of medical tourism at the KTO, said.
This revision is a major step for South Korea's medical tourism industry. The government has stepped in, easing the issuance of visas for foreigners coming to South Korea for medical tourism.
Furthermore, as part of the newly amended medical tourism guidelines, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced earlier this year that foreign patients are entitled to full insurance packages in the event of an accident.
This had been a matter of grave concern for visiting patients: whether or not South Korea has laws governing medical liability that are as strict as those in other developed countries.
If foreign doctors lack the same level of malpractice insurance, patients may find themselves with very limited recourse.
But this is no longer the case in South Korea. The country's recently revised measures provide more of a stable legal framework for foreigners, alleviating fears of malpractice, discriminatory charging, overpricing and patient privacy rights.
With an IT infrastructure that remains second to none, scores of highly skilled, multilingual medical personnel, affordable pricing, together with leading preventive care and cancer detection facilities, South Korea is only just beginning to get a handle on the industry.
As patients run the risk of post-procedure complications or side effects, perhaps the greatest cause for concern among visiting patients is the follow-up care they require once they return to their home countries.
Many clinics in South Korea have set up networks with overseas hospitals to ensure that patients are provided top-notch care when they return to their home countries.
Seoul National University hospital, the country's leading preventive care facility, takes follow-up measures very seriously.
"All our patients are closely monitored through our exclusive Customer Relationship Management System (CRMS)," explains SNU hospital project manager Borham Kim. "In addition to keeping all patient information safely stored, the system also has an automatic follow-up console system."
"The medical information can then be integrated electronically when they return to their home country to prevent any delay," he said.
But perhaps what sets Korea apart from other countries vying for visiting foreign patients is the dignified manner in which it treats them both before and after surgery.
Jasmin Sciascia and Lynda Sim from New Zealand, for example, traveled to Korea for life-saving weight-loss surgery. In their case, the KTO stepped in to fund the operation and travel expenses as a means of further marketing Korea as a medical tourism destination.
The operation was a great success but so, too, was the way Sciascia says she was treated.
"My experience in Korea was amazing," recounts Sciascia. "I was treated with courtesy and respect from everyone I met when I was in Korea, from staff at the hotel to the people in the medical profession that I came into contact with."
In New Zealand, both had been turned down for publicly funded bariatric surgery by their district health boards. This procedure comes at a high cost, but the results are dramatic.
And the operation has paid off exponentially for Sciascia, who was told she will likely lose up to 100kg in the year following her surgery.
"The desire of the medical professionals to ensure that people were treated humanely and with dignity was obvious and not something that I had experienced here in New Zealand to the same extent," she said.
