Accelerating contactless consultation for foreign countries including Mongolia, Russia, and the Middle East

“Aim to increase AMC’s global credibility by revitalizing virtual consultation”

▲ Professor Won-Kyung Cho and Professor Seo Young Kang (second and third from the right) are holding a virtual consultation for a patient in Mongolia.

Asan Medical Center (AMC) is offering virtual medical consultations for international patients. Last year, AMC participated in the ‘ICT-based Pre-consultation and Post-care Pilot Project’ hosted by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and provided virtual consultations to 102 Mongolian patients. This year, in addition to this project, AMC is expanding the global medical service coverage to patients in the Middle East, Vietnam, Russia, Australia, Kenya, and more. The number of patients who received the virtual consultation of AMC amounts to 266 in total. Director In-Ho Jeon of Asan Medical International (AMI) said, “More and more patients from abroad seek virtual consultations before visiting AMC. We hope to increase AMC’s global credibility by revitalizing virtual consultation.”

▲ Director In-Ho Jeon (fifth from the left) and the attendees from the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and KHIDI for the virtual consultation demonstrations

“The mass shown in the lung x-ray may well be a malignant tumor. However, we can see mediastinal lymph node calcification which may have been caused by contagious diseases such as tuberculosis. A biopsy is needed to confirm whether the mass in the lung has been formed by such diseases. Since the mass is located on the edge of the lung, it would be better to perform a fine needle biopsy. The treatment approach will be determined after performing the biopsy here at AMC.”

Virtual consultations were held at Asan Medical International (AMI) meeting room on June 3^rd. Professor Won-Kyung Cho and Professor Seo Young Kang of the International Healthcare Center provided virtual consultations to Mongolian patients as demonstrations to relevant individuals from the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and KHIDI. The professors explained to the patients about their opinions on the disease and treatment plan.

An additional report was made at the demonstration on the achievements made from the last year’s ‘ICT-based Pre-consultation and Post-care Pilot Project.’ Through this project, AMC provided virtual consultations to 102 patients in Mongolia for from October to November of last year. This year, it is planned to achieve over 200 cases of virtual consultations and expand this service to patients in various countries.

AMC’s online medical services for patients in foreign countries are categorized into four areas: ‘pre consultation’ for case review and prescribing radiology report; ‘outpatient consultation by proxy’ offered by AMI on behalf of each medical department; ‘second opinion’ which provides a written opinion regarding a disease produced by a relevant expert; and, ‘virtual consultation’ through which the patient, local doctors, and AMC doctors are connected via video conference for collaborated treatment.

The online medical services delivered by AMC from January to May this year include 132 cases of 'pre consultation,' 86 cases of ‘outpatient consultation by proxy,’ 19 cases of ‘second opinion,’ and 29 cases of ‘virtual consultation.’ AMI seeks to further promote online medical services by, for example, raising the rate of actual medical treatment and the ratio of visitors to AMC, and is building collaborative partnership with 29 institutions in 12 countries. When the online medical services for patients in foreign countries are well established, AMC is expected to achieve enhanced global presence, reliability, and brand image.

▲ Professor Jae Lyun Lee (center) of the Division of Oncology is delivering a virtual consultation for a patient in Russia who has suspected symptoms of prostate cancer.