Student Corner Tip the scale in favor of quality

By Antonina Park

South Korea, perceived all over the world as a high tech country, has every chance to be internationally known not only for its electronic devices and industrial goods but also as a destination for medical tourism.

The expansion of Korean medical tourism gained momentum from 2007, when Korea actively began to obtain its first medical tourists. From that moment on medical tourism, has been moving forward, attracting many tourists from across the world.

About 7,900 tourists visited Korea for medical purposes in 2007 and the number increased to 110,000 by 2011. And it can be said with certainty that Korea can be viewed as a strong competitor in the eyes of already established countries such as Singapore and Thailand in the area of medical tourism.

One of the main reasons for such a rapid increase of patients is the quality of medical service rather than the cost incurred.

According to a survey of international patients visiting Korea for medical tourism, 48 percent cited the quality of service and technology as their main reason for preferring Korea. And this high percentage just highlights and proves that quality takes priority over cost

On the other hand it may be argued that price is a governing factor. Affordability is what most patients usually consider when choosing among medical providers. But according to the opinion of patients, when it comes to the determination of choice, quality tips the scale, especially for plastic surgery.

Chinese travellers who make up the largest portion of the Korean plastic surgery market appear to be quite satisfied with medical services and their bills.

A 27-year-old student from Beijing who came to get a cosmetic surgery said that she chose Korea because “it is known for being the best place to get it done. “

Another patient from New Zealand said that while considering alternatives where to undergo eyes and nose surgery, she decided on Korea, and one of the determining factors was that Korea appeared to be safer to undertake surgery and prices were not so high.

Plastic surgery is not the only attraction for many of those from Russia and Central Asian countries who come for medical treatments for sterility, and oncological and cardiovascular diseases.

A friend of mine, who is a native Russian speaker and works as a medical coordinator at one of the hospitals that deals with medical tourism, emphasizes that there is a large demand for coordinators with language ability in Russian, which points out that there is a large stream of patients from the country.

Advanced technologies and competent doctors are what bring patients to Korea; and while prices are high relative to other countries, the growing number of patients shows no signs of slowing down.

Being quite a young player in the medical tourism market Korea is expanding rapidly and is attracting more patients from around the world.

Quality as a main asset and available prices will help Korea become one of the leading providers of medical tourism services in the near future.

Antonina Park is a junior at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies majoring in business administration.