BUSAN < invest Korea

The Busan Metropolitan Government was named the Best Government Body in the 2018 Healthcare Technology and Foreign Patient Attraction Program, a Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) program aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the healthcare service industry.

In January, the MHW announced its plan to select provincial and city governments to participate in the program aimed at attracting more foreign patients.

14 local governments submitted their proposals. The Ministry reviewed the proposals and announced seven finalists on the 19th. Busan’s proposal for “Medical Tourism Hub Development with a New Tumor Treatment Brand” was one of them.

To improve the project’s effectiveness, the city government will commit a total of KRW 500 million (250 million from national funding, and 125 million each from the city budget and the private sector) for the development of the core technologies (tumor treatment) and convergent technologies (comprehensive examination) with five participating hospitals (Busan University Hospital, Donga University Hospital, Kosin University Gospel Hospital, Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital, and Dongnam Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences).

Creating a global medical technology brand based on the developed technologies is expected to boost Busan’s competitiveness as a medical tourism city.

The city will also spur its efforts to develop a convergent medical tourism business model based on the city’s healthcare and tourism infrastructures and content, thereby meeting the rising demand from foreign patients head-on by providing different services across the target cities.

Busan welcomed 17,505 foreign patients last year, which is four times as many as the number of foreign patients who visited the city in 2010 (4,106). The city plans to build on its previous success and attract 25,000 foreign patients.

To this end, the city government will implement other related projects including: seminars on advanced medical technologies; public hearings for free medical services for foreigners; training for medical professionals and volunteer programs; familiarization tours for overseas medical tourism professionals; and joint projects with overseas centers (medical facilities and medical tourism information centers).

These projects targeting the tumor treatment field are expected to play a pivotal role in introducing the world to Busan’s advanced medical technologies and extensive tourism infrastructure and expanding the public-private networks with overseas centers in Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and other countries, thereby attracting more foreign patients to visit the city.

Busan Mayor Byeong-Su Seo said, “We will ensure the success of the key projects for attracting foreign patients and other overseas marketing projects and rebuild ourselves into one of the leading medical tourism city in Asia by 2030.”

Source Text

Source: Newsis (Mar. 21, 2018)

** This article was translated from the Korean.