“Korea must streamline overseas patient
referral process”
The
third Global Healthcare & Medical Tourism Conference concluded on Thursday
with a panel discussion on the globalization of Korea’s healthcare services at
COEX in Samgsung-dong, southern Seoul. The three-day event invited 37
professionals from 13 countries to discuss healthcare IT, medical tourism, and
healthcare policy.
Abdullah
Suliman M. Al Amor, CEO of King Fahad Medical City in Saudi Arabia opened
Medical Korea 2012 on Tuesday with the speech “Medical Tourism moving East or
West.” He urged Korea to aggressively pursue patients from overseas.
The
highlight was the second day of the conference; officials from the Middle East
and Asia lectured on challenges at home and expectations on medical tourism.
Ali O.
Al Ali, Director of Abu Dhabi Health Authority said “We consider medical
tourism as a measure to gauge the gap (between our and foreign medical
services). The goal is to improve our healthcare system through such
opportunities.” According to Ali, the majority of medical tourism cases involve
organ transplants, blood and marrow transplants and cancer therapy. However,
the lack of a systemized process between countries causes complications
regarding reimbursement, transportation, documentation and cost management. Abu
Dhabi health officials hopes to establish a federal entity to streamline international
referrals.
Orsida
Gjebrea, a policy specialist, from Qatar highlighted the unique demographic of
the Arab state that affects its medical financing. Male immigrants working in
construction make up the majority of the population. As the current healthcare
system charges non-nationals much more compared to its own citizens, there men
opt out of health insurance and only visit hospitals in an emergency, which is
expensive. This phenomenon helps the national health expenditure there shoot
up. To address the unsustainable cost structure, Qatar is implementing social
health insurance which will charge insurance fees based on ability to pay, not
on nationality.
Countries
successfully attracting foreign patients shared their strategy at the
conference as well. According to Hasan Kus, president of Anadolu Group, Turkey
leverages on its advanced tourism industry for flight accommodation and
complimentary sightseeing. It also encourages its medical practices to gain
international accreditation.
Yee
Yitshasiri, deputy business alliance director from the Samitivej Hospital in
Thailand advised Korea to attend to details such as providing transport and
adequate interpreters.
Local
medical professionals promoted Korea’s cancer treatment standard healthcare IT.
Asan Medical Center has developed a variety of mobile applications for
smartphone users. The software allows patients to access their health records,
search for information on cancer and consult pharmacists.
TheMinistry
of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Health Industry Development Institute and
Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism organized the conference.
Noh
Hyun-gi
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