As much as Hallyu might be enough to draw foreigners into Korea, many essential services in the country like hospitals and banks still lack sufficient English services necessary to keep foreigners in Korea long term.
Foreigners who live in Korea are well aware of this struggle. Commenting on the issue, one Colombian employee in her late 20s remarked, “It’s not that English services don’t exist but you will need to search for specific hospitals which might not be near to you, and usually the bill will also be more expensive.”
A Russian college student who has only been in Korea for a year admitted, “They are pricy but I am satisfied with the service so I assume this is the price I must pay for not speaking the local language.”
A recent report published by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training showed the impact of the language barrier as one of the factors deterring long-term stay.
The most recent statistics from the Ministry of Justice also show there are 2,012,862 foreigners living in Korea as of May 2022 which represents a significant number although it decreased from the peak of 2.52 million in December 2019, just before the pandemic. However, as the pandemic begins to settle again, Korea may want to reconsider strategies for making these basic services more foreigner-friendly if they wish to keep skilled foreign workers amidst an aging population and shrinking workforce.
‘Just in case, you should bring a Korean friend to act as translator’
Korea Biomedical Review (KBR) made phone calls to the “Big Five” hospitals to evaluate how easy it would be to find international health services among Korea’s five largest hospitals. By sales, the Big Five are Asan Medical Center, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital. These five largest hospitals dominate patient care services in Korea.
As such, they all have specially designed international health programs, but they appear to be targeted more for medical tourism purposes. If you are a foreigner residing in Korea, it’s a bit different.
It is required by the law to first bring a doctor’s referral from a primary or secondary-level facility like a clinic or general hospital to schedule a consult with a doctor in these tertiary-level facilities. Aside from family medicine doctors, KBR also asked about accessing specialized departments, and while all five claimed that most of their doctors can converse in English, the customer service representatives advised that foreigners with Korea’s national health insurance should bring a Korean friend to act as a translator.
The reason behind this seems to be the equity of healthcare services rendered for Koreans and foreigners under the Korean National Health Insurance system as the service representatives explained. However, the fact is that the language barrier puts foreigners at a distinct disadvantage and thus it is a difficult situation to regard both as equals.
Due to the sensitivity of medical issues, some foreigners might not want their Korean friends to know about their diagnoses, simply might not want to bother their friends, or might not have any Korean friends at their disposal.
Severance Hospital was the exception saying that they have translators who are provided at no extra cost. Seoul National University Hospital also explained that their translators sometimes assist nurses if needed based on their availability but are initially assigned to international visitors who do not possess Korean national health insurance.
Other hospitals in Seoul also offer English services and the Seoul Metropolitan Government has compiled a 2022 guidebook outlining the Korean healthcare system including how the national health insurance works and is available in 10 different languages. However, if you venture outside of Seoul, finding these English-speaking services will surely become less common in smaller cities.
Foreigners' hospital experiences
This was the case for a 35-year-old Nigerian who entered Korea four years ago to do his Ph.D. study and was living in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, at the time. He became sick very suddenly and was rushed to the nearest hospital but had problems communicating with his doctors.
He explained his frustration, “From day one I told them I have malaria but they ignored it maybe because it is not very common in Korea. They continued misdiagnosing me, conducting MRIs every day and I also changed hospitals a few times.”
Eventually, he said after spending more than 10 million won ($8,086) on something worth 10,000 won in treatment, his diagnosis came back as malaria.
However, after living in the country for just over four years, he said his outlook toward Korean healthcare has changed a bit. “Now, I think it’s fine. The clinic I visit for checkups is nice and the doctors are fine as well, although we speak in Korean.”
Despite the inevitable language barrier, sometimes kindness and patience can also go a long way as they did for a South African national who is an English teacher in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. She was hospitalized for recurrent tonsillitis and a tonsil cyst.
“I have been sick a few times in Korea but they (hospitals in Changwon) were all very helpful and understanding.”
However, the overall sentiment was negative.
While the majority of foreigners KBR contacted agreed that healthcare services were more efficient compared to those of their countries, their views were split almost 50/50 regarding healthcare being more expensive.
Some stated that they were afraid to visit the hospital alone. Others said the “foreigner tax” to get English services can be a bit excessive. Some noted that accessing services depended on the level of their Korean fluency.
Praise for Korea’s national health insurance despite limited English
A 29-year-old Colombian employee who has been living in Korea for four years shared his experience. “In general, I was pretty satisfied and impressed with the efficiency and organization of the hospital from emergency rooms to the consultation with doctors and they performed lots of detailed exams to discard serious illnesses before proceeding with a customized treatment.”
Within hours, the hospital did all these exams and the following day, he was getting the surgery early in the morning after an explanation of the illness and procedure.
However, he admitted that communication could be an issue for a non-Korean speaker, especially with nurses. “Doctors seemed to have a good command of English but we spoke in Korean as they assumed I was fluent,” he said, “My initial bill for four days of hospitalization was 1.6 million won which was a bit expensive but luckily the national health insurance helped me cover 1.1 million won of this cost.”
Another benefit of the national health insurance system is a free biannual health checkup which is offered based on the last digit of your birth year but again, these services are not easily available in English.
Still, three foreigners from Portugal, India, and Lithuania all agreed, saying the service was comprehensive and pretty quick.
The female Indian student said that they performed around nine tests in approximately 1.5 hours and recommended visiting the Korea Medical Institute as there are various locations around Seoul and spoke to her in a mix of English and Korean which she appreciated as she is not yet 100 percent fluent.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese student had no complaints but acknowledged that if she was not fluent, she would have a hard time understanding her doctor on top of the unfamiliar medical jargon. However, she noted, “My doctor spoke to me like I was a five-year-old kid and used images to help explain everything to me.”
Overall, there are mixed reviews on the matter but it appears that your Korean ability greatly affects the type of healthcare services foreigners receive and subsequently impacts their decision to stay long-term in Korea.
Although few hospitals offer English services and they seem to be more expensive, you might not have the luxury of searching for them in emergencies. Therefore, Korea should try to make English services more widely available in hospitals if they do not want to fall behind in attracting foreign talents into the country.