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| Would you come to Korea from overseas for medical treatment? |
| Yes. |
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34% |
[ 9 ] |
| No. |
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46% |
[ 12 ] |
| Not unless I had to. |
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19% |
[ 5 ] |
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| Total Votes : 26 |
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superacidjax
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 11:55 am Post subject: Is this racist or am I just misunderstanding.. |
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http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2904698
Basically, Korea is promoting medical tourism to overseas Koreans or "Gyopos" to use the JoongAng Ilbo's words.
If we assume that the overseas Koreans all speak Korean, then I can understand the government promoting medical tourism to overseas Koreans. But if assume that all overseas "Gyopos" don't all speak Korean, then it seems kind of silly to promote medical tourism specifically and exclusively to that group.
After all, if, we are under the operating assumption that they don't all speak Korean, it would seem like the government is promoting it to overseas because they assume that people of Korean heritage might prefer to be around Koreans.. or is it that the government really doesn't want an influx of non-Korean-heritaged foreigners coming to Korea to seek medical care.
Most "Americanized" Korean-Americans are culturally American, so it seems like medical tourism would be the last thing they'd want to come to Korea for, especially given native Koreans' ridiculously barbaric attitudes about pain management. I know that if I were seeking a lower cost place to get medical treatment, Korea would be near the bottom of my list, not because of their technological deficiencies (they are medically advanced, procedure-wise) but because of their philosophies about doctor-patient communication and of course the pain management thing is a very, very big issue.
Even at Samsung Hospital, the "diplomat" hospital with the special international wing, pain management is in the dark ages. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 2:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
it would seem like the government is promoting it to overseas because they assume that people of Korean heritage might prefer to be around Koreans.. or is it that the government really doesn't want an influx of non-Korean-heritaged foreigners coming to Korea to seek medical care.
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Or it could just be that they see overseas ethnic Koreans as a potential market for some income, especially from China. |
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FMPJ
Joined: 03 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 4:34 pm Post subject: Re: Is this racist or am I just misunderstanding.. |
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| superacidjax wrote: |
| Most "Americanized" Korean-Americans are culturally American |
This is circular.
And let's not forget that there are many, many overseas Koreans who are still very much culturally Korean. Every city in the US has a thriving K community, with norae-bangs, jimjjil-bangs, restaurants, etc., all with Korean-language signage.
Either way this sounds like a pretty silly plan that isn't likely to result in much revenue. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| My brother-in-law is a grad student at Perdue right now. It actually cost him less for dental surgery to fly back to Korea for it than to simply stay there and have it done. Plus he got to visit family. Not sure if it would work in countries with more affordable medical care, but it worked for him. |
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AmericanExile
Joined: 04 May 2009
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| My brother-in-law is a grad student at Perdue right now. It actually cost him less for dental surgery to fly back to Korea for it than to simply stay there and have it done. Plus he got to visit family. Not sure if it would work in countries with more affordable medical care, but it worked for him. |
Purdue. Perdue is chicken. Does he need half his jaw reconstructed? It has to be big if you can add over $2000 in flights and hotel bills and still save on the differential. |
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detourne_me
Joined: 26 May 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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| A friend of mine just had knee surgery here, cost him a fraction of what it would've in the usa. Also here he is on the short list for stem cell therapy. something thats hard to come by in the land of evangelists. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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| AmericanExile wrote: |
| RACETRAITOR wrote: |
| My brother-in-law is a grad student at Perdue right now. It actually cost him less for dental surgery to fly back to Korea for it than to simply stay there and have it done. Plus he got to visit family. Not sure if it would work in countries with more affordable medical care, but it worked for him. |
Purdue. Perdue is chicken. Does he need half his jaw reconstructed? It has to be big if you can add over $2000 in flights and hotel bills and still save on the differential. |
Whatever, it's still just some university with way too many Christians running around (by the sound of it). I don't know what kind of surgery it was, only that it didn't seem all that major. |
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Demonicat
Joined: 18 Nov 2004
Location: Suwon
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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| I can see it. They are trying to get on the medical tourism bandwagon alongside The Philippines (dental), Thailand (cosmetic), and singapore (actual medical surgeries). The only difference is Korea's typical Xenophobic slant- whereas the other countries listed advertise towards the elderly, the not so rich, and other thrifty people, Korea advertises only to their own. Ridiculous, but sensible when you consider the low level of English here- they simply could not deal with the influx of medical tourists that the other countries do. |
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agoodmouse
Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Location: Anyang
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| Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Demonicat wrote: |
| I can see it. They are trying to get on the medical tourism bandwagon alongside The Philippines (dental), Thailand (cosmetic), and singapore (actual medical surgeries). The only difference is Korea's typical Xenophobic slant- whereas the other countries listed advertise towards the elderly, the not so rich, and other thrifty people, Korea advertises only to their own. Ridiculous, but sensible when you consider the low level of English here- they simply could not deal with the influx of medical tourists that the other countries do. |
Good point. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:47 am Post subject: Re: Is this racist or am I just misunderstanding.. |
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| superacidjax wrote: |
| Basically, Korea is promoting medical tourism to overseas Koreans or "Gyopos" to use the JoongAng Ilbo's words. |
Wasn't long ago, the gov't was totally against this because the gyopos were coming here, staying long enough to get their residence card, ponying up a pittance in health insurance, then having the gov't pay for their expensive procedures. They stayed long enough to have it done (majority of it paid for by the Korean tax payer), then buggered off back home. The gov't wasn't happy the gyopos were taking advantage of the system like that, but hey, who wouldn't pay $100 in insurance premiums to save a few thousand in operations and treatments? |
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wuzza
Joined: 02 May 2003
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 8:23 am Post subject: |
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| I saw a story on the news last week that lots of Japanese people are coming here for cosmetic surgery. Probaby get a round of golf in while they're at it too. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:03 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think anyone comes to Korea to play golf- it's obscenely expensive here (more in Japan, I know, but there are still much cheaper alternatives).
Korea already has a lot of medical tourism: 20-30% of cosmetic procedures done in Korea are to foreign patients. Source (interesting article to boot). |
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detourne_me
Joined: 26 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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| wuzza wrote: |
| I saw a story on the news last week that lots of Japanese people are coming here for cosmetic surgery. Probaby get a round of golf in while they're at it too. |
Makes sense,
My gf said that last night there were Japanese subtitles in the Korean movie she saw in MyeongDong |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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| detourne_me wrote: |
| wuzza wrote: |
| I saw a story on the news last week that lots of Japanese people are coming here for cosmetic surgery. Probaby get a round of golf in while they're at it too. |
Makes sense,
My gf said that last night there were Japanese subtitles in the Korean movie she saw in MyeongDong |
Alot of those Japanese girls (the ones in Myeong-dong) are here for shopping, not cosmetic surgery. Apgujeong is the mecca of cosmetic surgery. |
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dr. love
Joined: 09 Oct 2007
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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Korea is just beginning in this industry. The hospitals are focusing on many markets, but kyopos are the first target.
It's not a racist slant, just easier to convince Koreans residing in other countries to come here for medical treatment.
There are already patients travelling from all over the world to get special orthopedic, cancer, fertitlity, plastic surgery and other treatments in Korea.
There is a select group of hospitals that are moving very quickly to prepare for patients from the GCC, Russia, Mongolia, China etc..
The government is behind the project and I think you'll see the number of foreign patients coming to korea increase dramatically in the next few years.
http://www.koreahealthtour.co.kr/eng/index.jsp |
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