S. Korea to Allow Medical Marketing for Foreigners

South Korea's Cabinet Tuesday approved a set of bills to relax restrictions on marketing activities by local medical institutions targeting foreign patients, as part of its goal to boost the so-called medical tourism sector, according to Yonhap News.

The number of foreign patients visiting South Korea's major hospitals jumped to 16,000 last year, up from a mere 760 in 2005, Yonhap reported quoting recent government data.

The country plans to attract 100,000 medical tourists by 2012, earning some $37 billion, spurred by top-notch local doctors and relatively cheap medical costs compared with those in Western nations.

The new measures will allow local hospitals to cut medical expenses and provide transportation and other accommodations to foreigners and overseas Koreans not covered by domestic health insurance.

Under the current medical law legislated in 1951 and last revised in 1973, such marketing activities are banned.

Despite growing calls for deregulation, tenuous efforts to overhaul the sector have failed due to conflicting interests between different medical sectors and concerns over timing.

The bills now await parliamentary approval.

Most medical tourists to South Korea come seeking dental care, plastic surgery or general checkups, according to the Health Ministry.