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Medical Korea 2024,

Digital Healthcare Technologies for a New Horizon beyond Barriers

 

- The global healthcare and medical tourism conference returns for the 14th iteration -

- The conference will open for two days (March 14 and 15) at COEX, Seoul -

 

<Summary>

 

Medical Korea 2024 welcomes visitors at COEX, Seoul, on March 14th and 15th. Hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW, Minister Cho Kyoo-hong) and organized by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI, President Cha Soon-do), the conference celebrates its 14th anniversary this year.

 

Held under the theme of “Connected Healthcare for All: A New Horizon beyond Barriers,” this year’s conference will bring healthcare experts across the world together to discuss issues facing the global healthcare industry and share ideas about its future.

 

Since its inception in 2010, Medical Korea has consolidated its status as one of Asia’s leading knowledge-sharing events in the global healthcare sector. Conference events include an opening ceremony, a merit award ceremony, academic events (forums and seminars), and business meetings. The conference will coincide with high-level government-to-government (G2G) dialogues with delegations from key healthcare partners.

 

In her welcoming address during the opening ceremony, Kim Hye-jin, the Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination, stressed “We will build on the global competitiveness of the Korean healthcare sector to help it expand by attracting more foreign patients and facilitating the global expansion of Korean healthcare.” She added, “With the goal of attracting 700,000 foreign patients by 2027, we will build the competitiveness of the industry by improving the quality of medical services and strengthening preliminary counseling and follow-up management for foreign patients.” She also added, “We will proceed with the development of training programs for global healthcare professionals and optimize our investment environment to foster a sustainable growth ecosystem.”

 

<Full Text>

 

Medical Korea 2024 welcomes visitors at COEX, Seoul, on March 14th and 15th. Hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW, Minister Cho Kyoo-hong) and organized by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI, President Cha Soon-do), the conference celebrates its 14th anniversary this year.

 

The theme of this year’s event, “Connected Healthcare for All: A New Horizon beyond Barriers,” this year’s, embodies a vision that Korea’s advanced healthcare technologies will not only serve the Korean public but also contribute to the healthy living of all underprivileged people around the world whose access to medical care is undermined by language, institutional, and economic barriers.

 

Medical Korea has cemented its status as a forum for sharing knowledge on the latest trends in global healthcare through lectures and discussions featuring the world’s top healthcare experts. The conference has also contributed to building inter-government networks for cooperation in global healthcare to facilitate investments from the private sector, attract patients, train healthcare professionals, and help Korean medical institutions expand their global operations.

 

This year's conference will kick off with an opening ceremony on March 14, followed by a merit award ceremony, academic events (forums and seminars), and business meetings, as well as high-level government-to-government (G2G) dialogues with key partners in the healthcare sector.

 

In the merit award ceremony, the Korean government will honor individuals and organizations that significantly contributed to the overseas expansion of Korean healthcare services and the attraction of foreign patients (22 awards in total).

 

A Presidential Citation will be awarded to Seoul National University Hospital Bundang. The hospital exported its hospital information system (BESTCare2.0) to 24 hospitals in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries, paving the way for other Korean healthcare systems trying to access global markets. Prime Minister Citation will be given to Gyeonggi-do, which elevated the global standing of Korean healthcare by attracting foreign patients and medical volunteer activities, as well as JK Plastic Surgery Clinic, Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital Bucheon, Kim Hyung-tae, Head of Yeson Voice Center (four in total), along with 17 Ministry of Health and Welfare Citations (17 in total).

 

Medical Korea 2024 is also attracting attention with its list of keynote speakers. The first speaker is Lee Jin Hyung, Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University. Professor Lee is one of the world’s most prestigious brain scientists and the first Korean woman to become a tenured professor at the university. She will discuss the future prospect of the scalability of digital healthcare technologies. The second keynote speech will be given by Glenn Vavoso, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Intuitive, a company that earned a global renown with its robotic surgical system Da Vinci. He will introduce advanced robot-assisted surgeries performed by Korean healthcare professionals under the topic of “The Evolution, Impact, and Future of Robotic Surgery.”

 

For the academic events, which consist of five forums and four seminars, Medical Korea has invited some of the world’s top experts as speakers. The list includes Edword Marks, CEO of Marx Advisory and Former CIO of Cleveland Clinic who has been named one of the “17 Most Influential Leaders in the Global Healthcare Sector,” Kim Young-tae, President and CEO of Seoul National University Hospital who discovered the fusion gene that causes lung cancer for the first time in the world, and Lee Sung-kyu, Endowed-Chair Professor at Asan Medical Center, a world-renowned expert in living donor liver transplantation and the world’s first surgeon to successfully complete 8,000 liver transplants. The events will provide insights into Korea’s highly advanced medical technologies and paradigm shifts in the global healthcare market.

 

The seminars include an introduction to the global healthcare projects carried out by the Korean government, a seminar for promotion of medical training programs for Middle Eastern healthcare professionals, a joint seminar of agencies involved in attracting foreign patients (Korea Tourism Organization, Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation, and Korea Human Resource Development Institute for Health & Welfare), and a seminar on financial and investment strategies for overseas expansion of Korean healthcare.

 

During the conference, as part of the promotion of training programs for Middle Eastern professionals, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission to the Republic of Korea will sign agreed minutes for healthcare professional training. In May 2018, the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, the KHIDI, and the Saudi Ministry of Education signed a partnership agreement to provide training programs for physicians and dentists. This year’s agreed minutes will expand the scope of the programs to include nurses, pharmacists, and medical technicians, thereby invigorating the bilateral training programs even more.

 

The business meetings will serve as a forum for communication and networking between overseas businesses sending patients to Korea (buyers) and the Korean healthcare industry (sellers). The meetings directly connect overseas buyers with Korean medical institutions looking for networking opportunities to attract more foreign patients. They are expected to produce various agreements among 70 buyers invited from 25 countries, and 163 sellers based in Korea. Expectations for the outcome of this year’s conference were raised when 21 international patient agreements and two medical export contracts were signed during Medical Korea 2023.

 

The Medical Korea Exhibition Pavilion will open on the third floor in COEX, which coincides with the Korea International Medical & Hospital Equipment Show (KIMES). The exhibition pavilion offers an opportunity to witness and experience the latest offerings from the Korean digital healthcare industry, which makes the pavilion a great spot to visit during the conference.

 

Medical Korea 2024 will also coincide with high-level G2G meetings with ministers and vice ministers from health ministries of key partner countries including Turkmenistan, Paraguay, and Mongolia.

 

On March 14, Kim Hye-jin, the Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination, will meet with Vice Minister Azat Ovezov of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan, to discuss issues of interest in the healthcare sector including the establishment of a Korean medicine center at the country’s National Rehabilitation Center.

 

On the next day, March 15, she will meet Minister Maria Teresa Baran Wasilchuk of the Paraguay Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on comprehensive health cooperation between Paraguay and Korea; introduce Korea’s contribution to the global community through its Pandemic Fund; and discuss key issues in the health sector including professional training programs, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices.

 

This will be followed by a meeting with Mongolian Minister of Health Chinzorig Sodnom, where the two parties will review the outcome of cooperation between the two countries for professional training and patient attraction, and discuss a wide range of measures to spur health cooperation between Mongolia and Korea, including a possible revision to the Mongolia-Korea Arrangement on Healthcare Cooperation (signed in August 2011).

 

In her welcoming remark during the opening ceremony, Ms. Kim Hye-jin stressed “We will build on the global competitiveness of the Korean healthcare sector to help Korean healthcare institutions expand their presence in the global marketplace in the post-COVID world by attracting more foreign patients and facilitating the global expansion of Korea healthcare services.” She added, “Under the goal of attracting 700,000 foreign patients by 2027, we will build the competitiveness of the industry by improving the quality of medical services through broader evaluation and certification of medical institutions attracting foreign patients, and strengthening preliminary counseling and follow-up management for foreign patients.

She also added, “We will proceed with the development of training programs for global healthcare professionals and optimize our investment environment to foster a sustainable growth ecosystem.”

 

President Cha Soon-do of the KHIDI delivered the opening remarks, in which he said “Moving forward, we will turn the Medical Korea Conference into an event full of festivities where players across the global healthcare sector gather in one place and share their knowledge and exchange information on the latest trends.” ///