Asan Medical Center International Healthcare Team Visits Mongolia’s Northern Region Cancer Center, Providing Clinical Care, Biopsy Support, Surgical Consultation and Training

Professor Sei Won Lee: “Ongoing Medical Collaboration Will Help Mongolia Build Sustainable Healthcare Capacity”

▲ Asan Medical Center’s International Healthcare Cooperation Team poses for a group photo after providing medical care to 750 patients over four days at Mongolia’s Northern Regional Cancer Center.

More than 400 kilometers from Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, residents in the northern region have limited access to specialized cancer care. To help address this gap, a medical team from Asan Medical Center traveled to the region, provided care to approximately 750 patients, and supported local healthcare capacity building through services ranging from biopsies to medical staff training.

From August 3 to 6, the Asan Medical Center International Healthcare Cooperation Team, led by Professor Sei Won Lee of the Division of Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine at Asan Medical Center, visited the Mongolia’s Northern Region Cancer Center, a branch of the National Cancer Center of Mongolia located in Erdenet, Mongolia’s second largest city. The team provided consultations to local patients and shared its expertise and experience in cancer diagnosis and treatment with local medical professionals.

In the past, Asan Medical Center’s Medical Volunteer Team focused primarily on providing direct medical care to patients in underserved areas. This initiative, however, was named the “International Healthcare Cooperation Team” to emphasize building a foundation for local healthcare self-reliance through ongoing exchanges with local medical professionals and the transfer of medical expertise, rather than providing one time care.

A total of 16 Asan Medical Center staff members participated in the initiative, including seven physicians from the Division of Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine, the Division of Breast Surgery, the Department of Radiology and the Department of Surgery, eight nurses and one biomedical engineer. The medical consultations, initially scheduled for three days, were extended by an additional day due to the large number of local patients.

▲ Professor Sei Won Lee of the Division of Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine at Asan Medical Center provides medical care to a patient with a respiratory condition at Mongolia’s Northern Regional Cancer Center.

Over four days, the team treated approximately 750 patients, including those with respiratory and gastrointestinal conditions and those suspected of having breast cancer. The team performed 150 breast ultrasound examinations, 80 abdominal and thyroid ultrasound examinations, and six breast biopsies.

In addition to providing medical care, the team conducted training and consultations to strengthen local healthcare professionals’ diagnostic and treatment capabilities. Asan Medical Center’s  physicians performed ultrasound examinations together with local staff for patients scheduled to undergo breast cancer surgery and provided advice on surgical approaches. They also performed breast biopsies directly, a procedure that had been difficult to conduct locally due to a shortage of specialists.

The team also provided lectures for local physicians and nurses on the treatment and care of cancer patients, while offering consultations on intensive care unit operations and inspecting aging medical equipment.

Erdenet, where the team provided care, is Mongolia’s second largest city, located more than 400 kilometers from the capital, Ulaanbaatar. The industrial city grew around its copper mining industry and has a high number of patients with respiratory diseases associated with mine dust exposure. Northern Mongolia, where Erdenet is located, has the highest cancer incidence rate in the country.

As many as 71.3% of cancer patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage, highlighting the limited availability of early detection and specialized cancer care in the region. In particular, patients suspected of having cancer must travel approximately eight hours from Orkhon Province, where Erdenet is located, to the capital, Ulaanbaatar, to receive specialized diagnostic tests and treatment, placing a significant burden on patients and their families.

The Northern Regional Cancer Center, where the medical collaboration took place, is a newly established healthcare facility that opened in September 2025 to help reduce disparities in cancer care between regions of Mongolia. The center aims to establish a comprehensive regional cancer care system, ranging from early cancer screening and diagnosis to surgery, chemotherapy and follow up care.

▲ Professor Il Yong Chung of the Division of Breast Surgery at Asan Medical Center performs an ultrasound examination at Mongolia’s Northern Regional Cancer Center.

Specialized medical personnel are still in short supply. There is no breast surgeon permanently stationed at the center, so a specialist from Ulaanbaatar visits once every two months. There is currently no pulmonologist on site either.

Through this initiative, the International Healthcare Cooperation Team focused not only on treating patients directly but also on sharing clinical experience and medical expertise to enable local healthcare professionals to independently interpret diagnostic results and determine appropriate treatment plans.

Professor Sei Won Lee, Team Leader of the Asan Medical Center International Healthcare Cooperation Team said, “The significance of this medical collaboration in Mongolia lies not only in providing direct patient care, but also in sharing our experience with local medical professionals and working together to strengthen their clinical capabilities.”

“Many local patients have difficulty accurately interpreting their test results and determining the appropriate course of treatment, even when they have access to the results. We will continue to discuss cases with local medical professionals and share the medical expertise and experience they need, contributing to improved cancer care in northern Mongolia,” he added.

After completing the consultations in Erdenet, the International Healthcare Cooperation Team traveled to Ulaanbaatar, where the team discussed future collaboration with local medical institutions, including Agape Christian Hospital and the First Central Hospital of Mongolia. Discussions focused on inviting patients with complex conditions to Asan Medical Center for treatment and providing training programs for local medical professionals.

This initiative builds on Asan Medical Center’s longstanding medical collaboration with Mongolia. Through the “Asan in Asia” project, a program supporting healthcare self-reliance in Asian countries, AMC has continued to share medical expertise with Mongolia, Vietnam and other countries, with a focus on building sustainable local healthcare capacity.

In particular, Asan Medical Center has supported the treatment of liver cancer patients in Mongolia through longstanding medical collaboration. Beginning with a training program for medical professionals from the First Central Hospital of Mongolia in 2010, a total of 225 Mongolian medical professionals have received training at Asan Medical Center as of December 2025.

In 2011, a team led by Professor Sung-Gyu Lee from the Division of Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery at Asan Medical Center visited a local hospital and successfully performed Mongolia’s first living donor liver transplantation. Since then, through continued training in liver transplantation techniques and medical collaboration, more than 300 patients in Mongolia have undergone living donor liver transplantation and received a new lease on life.

In addition, under the founding principle of the Asan Foundation to “help the most vulnerable members of our society,” Asan Medical Center has conducted 59 overseas medical volunteer programs in 16 countries since 2009. The foundation also operates a support program that brings patients with severe conditions that are difficult to treat locally to Korea for free medical treatment.