A 38-year-old woman from Khabarovsk, Russia, suffered from infertility
throughout her 20-year marriage. After a series of unsuccessful
pregnancies and two miscarriages, she consulted doctors in Russia, but
could not determine the cause. Earlier this year, she came to a hospital
in Seoul and realized that her fertility complications were caused by a
reduction in the blood supply in her placenta due to problems with her
immune system. In April this year, she underwent a successful in vitro
fertilization process. She has now been pregnant for 27 weeks and plans
to return to Russia now that it is safe to travel.
The above is just one example of the way in which the number of inbound
medical tourists has been rising rapidly over the past few years.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on
May 20, 210,000 non-Korean patients from 191 nations received medical
treatment in Korea in 2013. This is an increase of 32.5 percent from the
159,464 in 2012, and is a 3.5-fold increase over 2009's figures.
Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi (right), comforts Omar, an eight-year-old boy who was suffering from hypoplastic anemia, an incurable blood disease. The boy underwent bone marrow transplant surgery in Korea. He is now receiving outpatient treatment. (photo courtesy of the Catholic University of Korea, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital)
(Top) A patient from the UAE had been suffering from high blood pressure and obesity, and recently had a kidney transplant at the Seoul National University Hospital. Now, he is receiving immunosuppressive treatment. (Bottom) A Mongolian baby was diagnosed with pneumonia and with a ventricular septal defect, coupled with pulmonary hypertension. (photos courtesy of Seoul National University Hospital)
The number of inbound foreign patients, the types of treatments they seek and their nationalities.
By Limb Jae-un
Korea.net Staff Writer
jun2@korea.kr
[Source: korea.net]