Foreign patients to get medical compensation

By Kim Tae-jong

From next year, foreign patients will be able to get compensation if they fall victim to medical malpractice here, the government said Wednesday.

Currently, there is no proper compensation system for foreign patients from malpractice as hospitals and clinics are reluctant to pay higher subscription rates for insurance.

The government will set up a mutual aid association. The association will have hospitals as members and each member hospital will pay a certain amount of money from the fees it charges foreign patients. The association will use the pool of money to compensate these patients.

“We will operate the mutual aid association on a temporary basis until the compensation system takes firmer root,” said Im In-taek, an official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, during a news briefing. “We’re discussing the matter with related government bodies.”

The move comes as part of a detailed plan to boost medical tourism with the aim to increase the total number of foreign patients coming here to an annual 300,000 by 2015.

“Related government bodies have decided to join hands to actively promote medical tourism. We will encourage the private sector to invest more and we will support them through necessary policies,” Im said.

The government will also cooperate with related state agencies to relax visa rules so that foreign patients can come here more easily.

According to the ministry, the number of foreign patients receiving medical treatment here stood at 81,789 in 2010, up 36 percent from a year earlier.

Overall, the number of foreign patients has steadily increased since 2009 when the government started to promote medical tourism.

The total revenue from the treatment of foreign patients nearly doubled to 103 billion won last year from 54 billion won in 2009. Each patient spent 1.3 million won on average.

But the figures are far from impressive compared to other Asian countries that lead in medical tourism.

According to the International Medical Travel Journal, Thailand, Singapore and India attracted 1.56, 0.72 and 0.73 million foreign patients in 2010, which includes customers for spas and massage therapy.

“It’s hard to simply compare our annual number of foreign patients with those in other countries. But it’s true that the still average reputation of Korean medical services and the lack of infrastructure are the main obstacles to boosting medical tourism here,” Im said.

To rectify the situation, the government will also introduce various deregulation policies on the construction of accommodation facilities at hospitals.

It will allow foreign medical staff to treat patients and participate in research when they come here as part of the training program Medical Korea Academy.

As many patients are found feel inconvenience in communication and from complicated procedures when receiving medical treatment, the ministry also pledged to support the training of more medical translators and expand the services of a medical call center.

“Every year, we’ll also survey foreign patients to better know what they want to be improved. And we’ll keep improving the quality of medical services. Based on that, we’ll also rate clinics and hospitals like a five-star hotel system,” Im said.