Almost half of 125 Korean clinics and hospitals have expanded their operations in China so far, and more than a third of them were in the dermatology and plastic surgery fields, a report showed.

The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) released a report on Korean medical institutions’ entry into foreign markets as of 2021.

According to the report, the government received reports of overseas expansion from 125 medical institutions between 2016 and December 2021. The number grew 27.7 percent annually on average.

The Korean medical institutions entered 22 countries in total. About 45 percent of them, or 56 institutions, entered China, followed by 13.6 percent in Vietnam, 6.4 percent in Mongolia, 5.6 percent in Kazakhstan, and 4.8 percent in the UAE.

By entry type, operation consulting accounted for the largest (37.6 percent), followed by medical institution opening and operation with 28 percent, dispatching employees with 17.6 percent, trusted operation with 10.4 percent, and information system transfer with 3.2 percent.

By care type, skin care and plastic surgery ranked first with 35.2 percent, followed by dentistry with 20 percent, dermatology and Oriental medicine with 5.6 percent, and general surgery with 4.8 percent.

By the number of beds, 68 percent had zero to less than 30 beds, followed by 17.6 percent with 30-100 beds, 8.8 percent with less than 1,000 beds, and 3.2 percent with 100-300 beds.

KHIDI said it would also conduct a survey in August on Korean medical institutions and related industry institutions that entered the global markets in 2022.

KHIDI has conducted the annual survey since the "Act on Supporting of Overseas Expansion of Medical Services and Attraction of International Patients" took effect in June 2016.

Under the law, medical institutions must report overseas expansion to the government.

The survey aims to prepare support measures and listen to opinions from hospitals to promote their overseas expansion.

Under the law, a medical institution must report an overseas expansion of medical services in the following situations:

• Establishment and operation of a medical institution in a foreign country:
• Consultations for operations or entrusted operations of a medical institution in a foreign country;
• Secondment of health and medical services personnel or other persons engaging in related businesses to a medical institution in a foreign country;
• Transfer of medical treatment technologies, information systems, etc. to a medical institution or personnel in a foreign country;
• Provision of medicine, medical devices, etc. necessary for the provision of health and medical services in foreign countries;
• Provision of medical education in foreign countries

Those failing to file a report will face legal punishment.

Lee Haeng-shin, director of the global healthcare department at KHIDI, said the upcoming survey would help the government identify the status of overseas expansion of medical services led by the private sector and their difficulties.

“It will be of great help to prepare support measures for medical institutions’ entry to foreign markets,” he said.