‘Hospitals luring foreign patients have few benefits and many obligations'

The government has recently shifted its system of selecting hospitals that can attract foreign patients from the designating system to the rating and certifying system while announcing criteria for imposing fines.

Many domestic medical institutions gave a sigh of resignation due to such a change, complaining that there are no incentives.

The inbound arrivals of foreign patients recently turned upward after plunging due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the tempo of the recovery is slower than expected, deepening their worries further, government and industry officials said Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of foreign patients increased from 321,574 in 2017 to 378,967 in 2018 and 497,464 in 2019. However, the number plummeted to 117,069 in 2020 and 145,842 in 2021, showing a steep fall after the Covid-10 outbreak before rebounding somewhat recently.

“As our hospital was registered as an institution that draws foreign patients, we had some obligations, including the separate subscription to indemnity insurance,” a cosmetic surgeon said. “However, we have received no benefits as a foreign patient-attracting institution, and the system was in name only.”

The plastic surgeon added that he had heard about legal revision, but the government had sent no notices to medical institutions, and many were unaware of the amendment.

“We have positive expectations that the government is trying to improve the system by introducing an evaluation and certification system,” said Park Dong-kwon, a PR director at the Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons. “Any government policy might also have penalty provisions. However, as the government is in the transitory stage from designation to certification system, it had better give opportunities to correct themselves instead of punishing some as samples.”

Park added that the government should notify hospitals of situations to be slapped with fines for their education and give chances to medical institutions to rectify such parts.

To expand the evaluation-certification system, it is also necessary for the government to offer more incentives.

“We must be aware that the number of foreign patients has not recovered to the pre-Covid-19 levels,” he said. “Regulations and supervision are important, but administrative backup is needed for the inflows of foreign patients.”

For instance, the health authorities could help hospitals lure foreign patients in infectious disease management, giving a greater sense of stability to foreign patients and making their visa issuance easier, Park stressed.

“Also, they should establish a system that can continually support foreign patients by, for instance, providing translation services in English, Chinese and Japanese languages,” he noted.