50 per cent rise in ME medical tourists to Korea

Medical tourists from the Middle East region to Korea increased by over 50 per cent annually, with UAE patients averaging medical expense (per patient) is $13,560, which is comparatively higher than average medical expense per patient of $1,970, stated officials from the Korean National Tourism Organization. This year the Korea National Tourism Organisation, the state-run tourism organisation, in cooperation with the Financial News, a leading South Korean newspaper company, opened a two day event at the Intercontinental hotel Abu Dhabi “the Korea Medical Tourism Convention,” a medical tourism exhibition which gathered 16 Korean health establishments, government departments and medical agencies to promote attractive and reasonable medical & travel combo packages for patients wishing to seek medical treatment in world-class healthcare facilities in South Korea. The slogan for the event was ‘Care by Heart, Visit Medical Korea!’ According to the Korea National Tourism Organization, South Korea hosted 296,889 medical tourists from over 190 countries in 2015, reflecting an increase of 11.4 per cent from the 266,501 patients in 2014 and the 211,218 patients in 2013. The growth complements the plan of receiving one million international patients by the end of 2020.
Korea offers a blend of high-quality care with high-tech techniques and procedures at prices far less than its counterparts in Europe, Japan and the United States (US). The country has become one of the leaders in organ transplants and cancer treatments throughout the world due to its superior techniques in curing severe conditions such as brain disease, cardiac disorders and cancer. Korea is also ranked the highest for five-year survival rates of cancer treatment patients over Canada, Japan and the US. The health industry in Korea also surpass the US in terms of successful liver transplants–achieving a 92 per cent success rate over the 85 percent posted by the US.