Seoul aims to attract 400,000 a year foreign patients by 2018

By Lee Kyung-min

Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) said Monday that it plans to attract an average of 400,000 foreigners here annually by 2018 for medical treatment.

Under the plan, SMG will crack down on medical institutions that overcharge and will strengthen interpretation services to help prospective patients receive good medical services, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said during a press conference held at a hospital in Gangnam, where a large number of medical facilities are concentrated.

According to SMG, some 155,000 foreigners visited Seoul to receive medical treatment last year.

“Medical tourism is a highly profitable industry. Patients stay here for an extended period of time with their expenditures being substantially large,” Park said.

“SMG aims to develop the city into one of the best medical treatment destinations by taking the initiative in seeking active cooperation with the best medical institutions here,” he added.

SMG will ask 50 private hospitals to disclose their treatment fees in detail and show that they are properly insured against possible medical accidents.

Also it will crack down on illegal brokers who have tarnished the industry here, especially involving Chinese patients who have suffered from the side effects of plastic surgery.

Those who work as brokers for medical institutions are subject to a prison term of up to three years, or a fine of up to 10 million won ($8,800).

The measures are aimed at gaining public trust in the industry here following a number of fraud cases involving overcharging and illegal brokers.

Also, SMG will launch a medical tourism website in December in 10 languages including English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Mongolian.

The city plans to dispatch a team of medical staff to small- to medium-sized clinics at their request to help them better communicate with foreign patients. It has secured 92 interpreters so far, and will increase the number to 250 by 2018.

A one-stop information center will be set up by 2018 that will help the patients find hospitals here and receive consultation with full interpretation service.

SMG will also increase post-surgery tourism programs from the current five to at least 30 by the end of 2018. The programs today are in full operation under the themes of “healing” and “anti-aging.”

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of foreigners who sought medical treatment here stood at 266,500 in 2014, a fourfold increase from 60,000 in 2009.