According to Korean “Asian economy network”, over 1 million overseas patients went to Korean
for medical tourism over the past several years .
This month, Korean Health Ministry said around 267,000 foreign patients went to Korea
for medical treatment last year. The total amount of overseas patients went to Korea was
901,470, from 2009 to 2014. Up till now, there have been more than one million international
patients in total.
Chinese patients were among the most. Although in 2009, only 4,725 Chinese patients went to
Korea for medical treatment, in 2014 the number increased to 79,481. Within five years, it has
increased by approximately 17 times; The percentage of foreign patients was 7.8% in 2009, and
in 2014 ,it was 29.8%.
A survey shows that 27.9% of Chinese patients go to Korea for plastic surgery. The others are
from Russia, the United States, Mongolia.
Last year, the total amount of medical expenses of foreign patients was 556.9 billion won, almost
42% increased annually . 140.3 billion won were from Chinese patients , followed by Russian
(111.1 billion), American (56.3 billion),and people from the united Arab emirates (40.5 billion).