South Korea’s medical tourism industry has benefited from the revisions done in the law to allow hospitals to market its services to foreign patients.

In May 2009, the number of foreign patients that visited South Korea jumped to 1,062. This accounts for a 40% increase in visitors in that month alone compared to the number of foreign patients that visited the country in 2008 for the same month.

The global recession and its effects on the Korean Won has resulted in more tourists traveling to Korea to receive medical treatment as well as enjoy some shopping and leisure. While the cost of health care in Korea has been traditionally 50% cheaper than the cost of the same procedures in the US or Japan, with the Korean Won dropping by about 40% against the Japanese Yen, costs of medical procedures come about 70% cheaper.

A university hospital in Seoul Korea is gearing up to attract more foreign patients in the coming years. The hospital, Chung- Ang University Medical Centre, aims to be among the top five medical facilities in South Korea under its new director Ha Kwon-Ick. The Doosan group which owns the hospital has hired the new director in 2008 to achieve its goal of improving its facilities in services. Before taking over the position of director at Chung-Ang, Kwon-Ic k had served in other top hospitals including the Samsung Medical Center and the Eulji Medical Center. The improvement of facilities and services support the hospital’s goal of promoting its world-class surgical services to foreign patients at affordable costs.

Chung-Ang University Medical Center specializes in cosmetic surgery and orthopedic surgery. The hospital currently has 556 beds but a new building will be built by the year 2011. The new building will be used for the treatment of brain diseases, thyroid cancer, stomach cancer and heart diseases. Chung-Ang University Medical Centre is a member of the Council for Korea Medicine Overseas Promotion. This group also aims to promote Korea as a major destination for medical tourism. With the efforts of the organization and the hospital, it is expected that more medical travelers will go to the hospital to receive medical treatment.

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The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs in Korea recently announced a new ruling regarding the percentage of sick beds that will be allotted for foreign patients. According to the new ruling, only a maximum of 5% of total sick beds in several large hospitals should be made available to foreign patients. This is to prevent hospitals from prioritizing foreign patients over locals because of the potential income from them.

However, patients who have been in Korea for over 90 days are excluded from this ruling. Because they have been in the country for more than three months, they are already considered as domestic patients.

The announcement came just as the country takes steps in deregulating its hospitals and gearing towards an increase in medical tourists. The country is expecting to attract at least 100,000 healthcare tourists this year and next year. Aside from the deregulation of the industry, hospitals are now allowed to have domestic and international marketing campaigns.

Among those affected by the new ruling are Yonsei Severance Hospital and the Samsung Medical Center. Smaller hospitals are not affected by the 5% quota. The Ministry said the 5% quota may be raised in the future depending on the number of medical tourists that will visit Korea.