Health insurance spending to cover smoking and drinking-related treatments reached 13 trillion won ($11 billion) from 2016 through 2018, data showed. According to a report submitted to Rep. Jung Choun-sook by the National Health Insurance Service for the ongoing parliamentary audit, annual expenditures, including insurance coverage and costs paid by individuals, exceeded 4.6 trillion won last ...

The government on Wednesday warned against using liquid e-cigarettes, or e-liquids, until health perils associated with them are better understood. “The Health and Welfare Ministry strongly recommends discontinuing the use of liquid e-cigarettes until the link between lung injuries and liquid e-cigarettes is clearly identified,” said Health Minister Park Neung-hoo in a press briefing Wednesday m...

An orb with a set of ears, blinky eyes and the voice and speech manners of a chatty child is making advances in dementia therapy at a hospital in Seoul. Named Bomy, the robot assists cognitive training for patients in the early stages, or at the risk of developing dementia. Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital’s Robot-assisted Cognitive Training Center opened its doors in April, and is heade...

The number of elderly South Koreans with mental health issues has risen sharply in recent years, as the country scrambles to provide better health care for its people, a report showed. In the report to the National Assembly, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service said that in the 2010-2018 period, the number of people over 80 afflicted with major depression surged 176.5 percent, wi...

The number of foreigners visiting South Korea for medical treatment shot up 18 percent last year, government data showed. In a report to the National Assembly, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute said over 378,900 foreign nationals arrived here for treatment last year, up from around 321,500 in 2017. The institute said that of them, the number of Japanese who visted for medical p...

As the population ages, the number of South Koreans with dementia has soared in recent years and so have associated costs, data showed. In 2018, dementia-related medical spending exceeded the 2 trillion won ($1.67 billion) threshold for the first time. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Rep. Kim Kwang-soo, the number of people diagnosed with various forms o...

Smokers of the younger generations face challenges disparate from those troubling previous generations, giving rise to the need for renewed countermeasures suited to the contemporary smoking scene, according to health experts. The smoking rate has been on the decline in Korea, with the percentage of male adult smokers – who account for the majority of smoking demographics – hitting a record low ...

A woman, 79, who received a partial artificial heart transplant has lived for over 1,000 days since surgery, Samsung Medical Center said Wednesday. The patient was fitted with the then-latest third-generation left ventricular assist device in September 2016. This is the longest a patient has lived with a third-generation heart assist device in South Korea, according to the hospital. The hospita...

Sales of cigarettes in South Korea edged down 0.6 percent in the first half of 2019 from a year prior, data showed, amid an anti-smoking campaign and higher prices. South Korean smokers purchased 1.67 billion 20-cigarette packs in the January-June period, compared to 1.68 billion packs in the same period last year, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The figure...

Facebook group allows expats to share tips on air quality, how to protect themselves

More than 1 in 10 senior citizens in South Korea suffer from dementia, data showed. According to the data from the National Institute of Dementia, 748,945 South Koreans aged 65 and above suffered from dementia as of 2018 last year. That figure is expected to grow to 2.18 million by 2040, 3.03 million by 2050 and 3.32 million by 2060 as the population continues to age.

The death rate from cancer in South Korea has been on the rise every year, according to the Korea Insurance Development Institute. The number of life insurance subscribers who died of cancer increased from 18,144 in 2008 to 19,560 in 2010, 21,179 in 2012, 23,213 in 2015 and 24,940 in 2017, data showed. By total number of deaths, the deadliest cancers were of the lungs, liver, stomach, pancre...

Vibrio vulnificus, a strain of necrotizing bacteria, was detected in seawaters off the west coast of Gyeonggi Province, the province’s Health and Environment Research Institute said Tuesday. Three of the 38 seawater and 33 wetland mud samples tested positive for the bacteria on April 29. About 50 cases of the bacterial infections occur nationwide every year, with nearly half of those infected d...

About 130,000 children’s products were found to contain endocrine disruptors during customs clearance procedures, a Korea Customs Service report showed Friday. KCS and the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards jointly performed a safety evaluation on children’s products for two months starting in March, ahead of the May 5 Children’s Day. (Korea Customs Service) Endocrine disruptors were d...

Global life expectancy grew by 5.5 years between 2000 and 2016, the World Health Organization said, warning though that unequal income and access to health care translates into far shorter lives for many. The UN health agency also stressed significant gender differences in life expectancy worldwide. On average, a child born in 2016 can expect to live 72 years, up from 66.5 in 2000, according...