[THE INVESTOR] In an effort to attract more Russian patients and to enter the Russian medical market, major hospitals in South Korea’s second largest city of Busan will visit Russia later this week, a Busan City official said on July 12.
“A medical delegation from Busan-based Dong-a University Hospital, Kangdong Hospital and CMS Korea will visit Moscow and St. Petersburg for eight days from July 13,” the official said.

The city government co-organized the event to bolster the city’s foreign medical tourism. While in Moscow, Dong-a will sign agreements with the First Moscow State Medical University on the exchanges of doctors and codevelopment of medical technology and with the National Cancer Institute on exchanges of medical teams and patients, the official said.

Dong-a, jointly with Kandong, whose specialty is orthopedics, will also discuss with local agencies ways to stimulate medical tourism of Russian patients, Kandong doctors will visit a hospital in St. Petersburg to introduce its up-to-date medical technology and offer a free diagnosis event.

Last month, four doctors from St. Petersburg and Vladivostok were invited for a training program by Kandong.

South Korean hospitals are keen to attract foreign patients. According to data from the Health Ministry, the number of foreigners visiting the country to get medical treatment stood at 297,000 last year, up 11 percent from 267,000 on-year. Of them, Russian patients took up 7 percent, and Busan was their major destination.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)