A big change in the pattern of foreign patients visiting South Korea is being made. In the past, they came to Korea for affordable medical expenses. Today, foreign patients come to stay in Korea because their needs are unmet in advanced countries like the United States and Europe.

The number of foreign patients who visited Korea is estimated to reach 160,000 in 2012, 260,000 in 2014 and about 300,000 last year. Of them, the number of those who spent more than 100 million won ($870) on hospital bills soared to 210 in 2014 from 82 in 2012. The number of patients who spent between 50 million won and 100 million won more than doubled from 232 to 532 in the same period.

Dr. Sarah Campbell, head nurse at St. Thomas Hospital in the U.K., recovered from her musculoskeletal disorders after being treated in Korea. She suffered from neck and back pain for more than 10 years until her colleague recommended Wooridul Hospital in Korea to her. Hospitals in the U.K. failed to find the exact causes of her pain.

In Korea, she was diagnosed with cervical disc herniation, foraminal stenosis, spondylolisthesis and spinal instability. She stayed for two weeks from January 22 for treatment which cost her nearly 100 million won. Now she is able to drive and live a normal life again.

“I flew 5,000 miles to Seoul with hope and belief and I was fortunate to get treated here. I want to tell people that Korea has excellent medical technology,” she said.

A Middle East patient with late-stage liver cirrhosis who gave up receiving surgery in Israel underwent a successful liver transplant at Asan Medical Center in Seoul last January on the recommendation of doctors in his country. The patient identified only by his surname Shalom received liver cirrhosis treatment for five years at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel, which was once named to be one of the top 10 best global hospitals by Newsweek.

But his immune system was compromised due to old age. He often developed ascites and showed signs of minor encephalopathy, meaning he needed an immediate liver transplant, but the Israeli hospital could not perform the very challenging transplant surgery.

The hospital began to look for a candidate hospital worldwide for the surgery and found Dr. Lee Seung-gyu, Chair of Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary at Asan Medical Center, is the right person for the job. Mr. Shalom underwent a successful surgery and was discharged from the hospital on February 15.

Korean hospitals are also famous for their medical training programs for overseas doctors. Asan Medical Center has been inviting about 400 medical doctors from around 70 different countries to its training program every year, while Wooridul Hospital has been offering a short-term MISS Course program designed to teach minimally invasive surgery and technique and numerous longer-term training courses, inviting about about 360 spine specialists from 28 countries since 2013.

By Lee Byung-moon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]