Busan hospitals eyeing Russian market

Major hospitals in South Korea's second largest city of Busan will stage presentations in Russia later this week as part of their efforts to enter the Russian medical market and entice Russian patients, a Busan city official said Tuesday.

"A medical delegation from Busan-based Dong-a University Hospital, Kangdong Hospital and CMS Korea will visit Moscow and Saint Petersburg for eight days from Wednesday," the official said.

The city government co-organized the event to bolster the city's foreign medical tour.

While in Moscow, Dong-a will sign agreements with the First Moscow State Medical University on the exchanges of doctors and co-development of medical technology and with the National Cancer Institute on the 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 activate medical tours for Russian patients, Kandong doctors will visit a hospital in Saint Petersburg to introduce its up-to-date medical technology and provide a free diagnosis event.

Last month, Kandong invited four doctors from Saint Petersburg and Vladivostok on a training program.

South Korean hospitals are eager to attract foreign patients.

According to data from the health ministry, the number of foreigners visiting the country to get medical attention 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. (Yonhap)