▲ AMC International Healthcare Center, together with Asan Medical International, is providing state-of-the-art medical services to international patients. (From the right) Director In-Ho Jeon, Team leader Suji Sung, and Nurse Carol Lee.

International Healthcare Center has been constantly developing, keeping up with the changing times. It initiated in 1989 as International Healthcare Clinic, providing medical treatment for foreigners living in or traveling to Korea. Now, as AMC International Healthcare Center, it has been welcoming increasing number of patients from abroad as Korea entered the era of globalization.

After the revision of the Medical Service Act in 2009, allowing the attraction of international patient, International Healthcare Center further strengthened its services. Non-medical services such as patient coordination, translation, visa, accommodation, insurance, and more are provided so that patients from diverse cultures can receive medical treatment as if they were in their own countries. Through these efforts, International Healthcare Center has yearly average of 20,000 international patients visiting from more than 100 countries. In 2021 alone, when COVID-19 restrictions began lifting, about 14,000 international patients from 57 countries visited International Healthcare Center. Professor In-Ho Jeon, the Director of International Healthcare Center, explained, "As Asan Medical Center has been ranked in the Global Top 30 hospital by Newsweek, its global awareness has increased. It is well received among patients and medical staff who have experienced our hospital's medical services."

Ms. Clair Kim, a nurse at International Healthcare Center, said, "I feel proud when seeing the reactions of international medical staff. Air ambulance medical staff who transport patients have experienced all of the world's leading hospitals. Nevertheless, when the staff come to AMC, they are surprised by our quick actions such as completing the treatment for hospitalization within 5 minutes as soon as the patient arrives. They say that Asan Medical Center is amazing." After that, they leave the patient completely in the hands of our medical staff. It shows their trust in Asan Medical Center.”

▲ Director In-Ho Jeon of Asan Medical International (second from left) is consulting a Mongolian patient using a virtual consultation platform.

Establishing leading medical care system through ceaseless efforts

For one international patient to be treated successfully, there are many things to consider before and after treatment. Recently, foreigners from all over the world are visiting Korea, making it difficult to prepare interpretation for all languages. To this end, International Healthcare Center has Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, and Vietnamese coordinators and a system supporting interpretations in other languages.

Various administrative support, including support for professional interpreters, is handled by Asan Medical International. In particular, if a patient living abroad expresses his/her intention to undergo surgery at Asan Medical Center, Asan Medical International will provide various non-medical services, including visa, transfer, and insurance.

Ms. Carol Lee points to a rich experience and collaboration system as the strength of AMC International Healthcare Center. "When a patient living abroad expresses his intention to undergo surgery at Asan Medical Center, International Healthcare Center manages the surgery schedule and provides non-medical services such as arrival, transportation, and interpretation. Even after returning to his/her country, we check online once a week for follow-up management. It is possible because we have a collaborative system with abundant experience in attracting international patients, infrastructure, medical services, and administrative support."

Accelerating virtual consultation for international patients

Recently, International Healthcare Center is accelerating full-scale virtual consultation. Last year, Asan Medical Center 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 from September to November, confirming the possibility of virtual consultation. In the first half of this year alone, about 130 cases of virtual consultation were provided to patients in the Middle East, Vietnam, Russia, Australia, Kenya, and more.

Virtual consultation is conducted in the form of remotely cooperating with local medical staff using a virtual consultation platform. In Korea, telemedicine is recognized as a necessary service for chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, but in fact, many patients who underwent virtual consultation at International Healthcare Center were suffering from severe diseases including liver cancer, liver cirrhosis, brain tumor, pancreatic cancer, and pulmonary disease. This is because patients seek virtual consultation when it is difficult to diagnose accurately at the local hospital or when transplantation or surgery is needed.

Professor Seo Young Kang explains that there were many trial and error in establishing the virtual consultation process. "I carefully check the medical report in advance to make an accurate diagnosis within a limited time. However, due to the different environments in each country, there were many cases where there were not enough data. It was difficult when I only received a diagnosis name and a picture from the report or when finding another symptom that was not in the report during consultation.”

Currently, International Healthcare Center operates all processes of virtual consultation and strives to establish an effective consultation process with accumulated know-hows. It introduced a new platform in March this year that can smoothly deliver medical reports from hospitals around the world, and plans to open a virtual consultation room in the second half of this year to increase accessibility for medical staff.

Asan Medical Center in the Global Stage

Ms. Suji Sung, the team leader of Asan Medical International, emphasizes that International Healthcare Center is proactively implementing customized medical management aimed at future medicine.

“International Healthcare Center already has sufficient infrastructure and systems for international patients. On top of that, virtual consultation will manage the entire treatment process from pre-consultation to post-care management, allowing us to proactively establish customized medical management system. Asan Medical International is also promoting exchanges with international institutions, supporting foreign physician medical training, and marketing to attract international patients. I am proud to raise the brand awareness of Asan Medical Center and promote its excellence to the world."

International Healthcare Center, providing high-quality medical services to those in need, is expected to play an active role as medical diplomats representing Asan Medical Center.