SCC geared for advanced medical tourism

By Nho Joon-hun

Seoul Central Clinic (SCC) has all the essentials, including convenient location, experienced and expert staff and medical equipment, to make it the top destination for medical tourism.

Not that it is putting on a façade as a one-stop center for foreign visitors, it is equipped to diagnose and treat a wide range of illnesses in the shortest period of time.

Naturally, foreign visitors are not the main clients; SCC provides comprehensive medical examinations for employees of a good number of companies and organizations such as the Bank of Korea, KB Bank, Daewoo Engineering and Construction, Shinsegae Department Store and Seoul Metropolitan government.

Located inside the Post Office Tower in Myong-dong, downtown Seoul, the SCC specializes in medical health checkups and offers subsequent treatment. If patients need more complicated and sophisticated treatment, it also introduces them to networked general hospitals.

Comprehensive medical tests

SCC offers the entire range of medical services from radiology and internal and family medicine to dermatology and urology, gynecology and cosmetic surgery.

The internal medicine section, for instance, operates the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Center which provides endoscopy tests, essential for discovering colon and stomach cancer which are increasingly prevalent among adults of all races and nationalities.

The most basic medical examination carried out by SCC are tests covering auditory, ophthalmology, physical constituents, pulmonary, electrocardiogram, X-ray, digestive and thyroid gland.

They are followed by tests for tumor markers, hepatitis, diabetes, kidney, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular, blood, pelvic and bone density.

And while SCC serves as a general medical examiner, it is increasingly focusing on providing services to foreign visitors, some of whom come to Korea exclusively for medical examination and treatment as well as cosmetic surgery.

Foreign patients tend to stay here for a comparatively short period of time, and therefore they need to receive all examinations and subsequently required treatments within a few days after arriving at the hospital without experiencing the hustle and bustle.

Focus on medical tourism

Such an understanding of the business is well reflected in customized medical services at SCC, which include easy registration procedures, comprehensive medical tests and treatments.

The center even offers post-operative care, which helps patients receive due medical monitoring at a networked hospital in their country.

SCC is also building a network with hospitals in other countries so that it can fully provide foreign patients with all the necessary services even after they go back to their country.

SCC has done business with travel agencies in foreign countries to attract international patients here, but has also built a network with local and international hospitals to effectively monitor and provide post-operative care.

These efforts have paid off with the center posting an average growth of 20 percent every year despite fierce competition with large nearby hospitals.

Thorough consultations

Another attraction that is unique to SCC is a more “thorough” consultation with patients, which is hardly expected at major hospitals due to the tight schedules of doctors.

Doctors explain in detail patients’ test results and required treatments or procedures, as it is very critical to affect how patients feel about the service.

SCC’s emphasis on the quality of customized medical service for foreign patients comes from the extensive experience of the staff and observation in medical tourism. Yang Woo-jin, chief of the clinic, serves as the president of the National Association of Global Medical Tourism.

In an effort to boost the nation’s medical tourism, SCC has realized what’s more important is to identify target patients and to come up with measures to offer them customized services.

“People tend to think the construction of state-of-the-art medical centers and the purchase of advanced medical devices involving considerable investment of money is the most important thing to do to boost medical tourism. But they’re wrong. What can attract and impress overseas patients most is quality medical services that can be customized to each patient,” Yang said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

In this regard, she is skeptical of the government’s incentive schemes, which mainly support major hospitals.

“I don’t think medical tourism can be a lucrative business for big hospitals that specialize in patients with serious diseases. I don’t think so many foreign patients with critical conditions will come here, and therefore, simply speaking, for them, it’s not going to be cost-effective,” she said.

Instead, she rather suggested that the government provide more support to small but specialized clinics and help them to have more patients.

“I think a majority of foreign patients come here for cosmetic surgeries, dental treatments or health checkups, and clinics here can effectively provide necessary services for them without much investment,” she said.

To support clinics or small medical centers, mostly with limited resources, the government should help them market themselves, she said, also asking for more practical help, including more deregulations.

“For example, tens of thousands foreigners come to this district annually, but it is now illegal to put up a signboard on this building to promote our center. How should foreigners know what we’re doing here? Such a small deregulation can be a great help for us,” she said.