Standards revised for Korean hospitals treating international patients

Generic image of South Korea

According to the Korea Biomedical Review, the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare has said it will amend the evaluation and designation standards for hospitals that treat foreign patients. It is part of their plan to improve the reputation and reliability of Korean healthcare.

The Ministry began to evaluate and designate medical institutions to attract foreign patients last year, in a system to select medical institutions that provide excellent services for incoming patients, to raise the reputation and reliability of Korean healthcare.

With the amendment, the Ministry will evaluate two areas:

  • the specialisation system for foreign patients, which assesses customised services for foreign patients such as multilingual consultation and interpretation services
  • the patient safety system, which evaluates the safe treatment environment

Hospitals that receive designation can use the ministry-approved mark for two years and will receive free promotions through the ministry’s channels, which includes the medical tourism integrated homepage (www.visitmedicalkorea.com).

“The new evaluation designation will contribute to enhancing the global competitiveness and reliability of Korean medical care,” said Kim Hye-sun from the ministry’s Overseas Medical Service Support Centre. “The ministry expects that designated medical institutions will play a leading role as representative medical institutions that foreign patients can trust”.

VisitMedicalKorea lists medical tourism packages and lists selected providers including 1,884 registered hospitals and clinics and 1,481 registered medical travel agents. Only 55 hospitals or clinics and six medical travel agents are listed as major providers accredited by the Ministry of Health to deal with foreign patients.