The Korean Society for Quality in Health Care (KoSQua) will host the Mint Festival, a public campaign to increase public awareness of the need to improve healthcare quality and patient safety, from Aug. 21 to 27.

The event, co-organized by KoSQua and the Korea Hospital Association, will take place at more than 300 hospitals nationwide.

Under the catchphrase "Medical Quality and Safety Together," the campaign will feature various activities to raise public awareness of medical quality and patient safety for patients and their caregivers who visit hospitals.

All 300 participating hospitals will place a mint tree, which symbolizes the festival, and provide mint candies and KakaoTalk emoticons free of charge.

The Mint Festival campaign will lead to the 39th World Congress of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua), the world's largest international congress on healthcare quality, which will kick off at COEX, southern Seoul, on Aug. 27.

ISQua is the most prestigious international organization in the field, which comprises members from more than 90 healthcare quality-related societies and national organizations worldwide.

This year’s world congress will also feature a Korea session on the first day to share Korean experience and know-how in improving the patient quality experience with participants from around the world, according to KoSQua.

"The ISQua World Congress will confirm that Korean healthcare is world-class in advanced medical technology, quality management systems, and patient safety," KoSQua President Lee Wang-jun said.

Lee, also the chairman of Myongji Hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, went on to say, "I also hope that through the Mint Festival, the public will be able to understand that medical institutions need more social support and investment in medical quality management and patient safety to develop further."