By Shim Jae-yun
The nation's medical tourism ranked 19th most competitive among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to a research institute.
The result was based on studies of technology levels, human resources, facilities and equipment of related industries, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET) said.
The survey drew attention as it comes amid fierce competition among governments to take the lion's share in the medical tourism market, which has emerged as a next generation growth engine.
Japan topped the list ahead of Iceland, Luxemburg, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands..
Korea's competitiveness in the medical tourism was found to have great discrepancies among the relevant sectors.
It came second in terms of facilities and equipments and fourth in the areas of medical service. But it ranked 31st in the number of medical personnel per population and 33rd in respect of growth prospects for medical tourism.
The nation outdid the United States, Canada and Japan in the "five-year survival" rate of patients with stomach cancer, liver cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer.
The report noted that, despite the steady rise in the number of foreigners visiting here for medical purposes, the number is only 8 percent of that for Thailand, which saw 1.56 million medical tourists in 2011. Singapore had 720,000 medical tourists the same year.
KIET cited the need for the government to takes measures to expedite the spread of K-medicine as part of the popularity of hallyu (the Korean wave).
"We need to get rid of regulations that have blocked the creation of an environment favorable to attracting foreign medical tourists," said Huh Mun-gu, a KIET researcher.
He underlined the need to set up a state-run organization in charge of strengthening competitiveness and promoting investment, as Singapore has done.
"The nation began to see the impact of what we call K-medicine thanks to the ever-growing popularity of hallyu across the globe. We need to maximize our high level of medical treatment technology coupled with relatively reasonable costs to attract more foreign medial tourists," he said.
"To that end, a control tower is necessary to remove regulations in many departments of the government," he added.
The nation's medical tourism ranked 19th most competitive among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to a research institute.
The result was based on studies of technology levels, human resources, facilities and equipment of related industries, the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET) said.
The survey drew attention as it comes amid fierce competition among governments to take the lion's share in the medical tourism market, which has emerged as a next generation growth engine.
Japan topped the list ahead of Iceland, Luxemburg, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, the United States, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands..
Korea's competitiveness in the medical tourism was found to have great discrepancies among the relevant sectors.
It came second in terms of facilities and equipments and fourth in the areas of medical service. But it ranked 31st in the number of medical personnel per population and 33rd in respect of growth prospects for medical tourism.
The nation outdid the United States, Canada and Japan in the "five-year survival" rate of patients with stomach cancer, liver cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer.
The report noted that, despite the steady rise in the number of foreigners visiting here for medical purposes, the number is only 8 percent of that for Thailand, which saw 1.56 million medical tourists in 2011. Singapore had 720,000 medical tourists the same year.
KIET cited the need for the government to takes measures to expedite the spread of K-medicine as part of the popularity of hallyu (the Korean wave).
"We need to get rid of regulations that have blocked the creation of an environment favorable to attracting foreign medical tourists," said Huh Mun-gu, a KIET researcher.
He underlined the need to set up a state-run organization in charge of strengthening competitiveness and promoting investment, as Singapore has done.
"The nation began to see the impact of what we call K-medicine thanks to the ever-growing popularity of hallyu across the globe. We need to maximize our high level of medical treatment technology coupled with relatively reasonable costs to attract more foreign medial tourists," he said.
"To that end, a control tower is necessary to remove regulations in many departments of the government," he added.
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