The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday it has designated four hospitals as the primary institutions that attract foreign patients.

“We expect the selected medical institutions to play a leading role in creating an environment in which international patients can receive Korean health care services safely,” the ministry said.

The four hospitals are Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Hangil Eye Hospital, Inha University Hospital, and JK Plastic Surgery Center. They showed excellence in in foreigner-specific services such as multilingual language websites and convenient facilities, including religious ones, it said.

The ministry designated the hospitals through evaluation and designation criterion jointly developed by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and the Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation, to raise the reliability and global competitiveness of Korean healthcare sector.

The evaluation criteria consisted of 130 survey items for evaluating foreigner specific services, such as multilingual consultation, interpreter service, transportation, accommodations, infection control, and patient safety systems.

The four hospitals can use the designation mark for the next two years and receive funds for publicity through various online and offline channels such as www.visitmedicalkorea.com, the ministry said.

“The government will continue to evaluate and designate medical institutions to attract foreign patients by extending it to oriental medicine and dentistry in the latter half of this year,” the ministry said, adding that there are currently 1,655 candidate hospitals.

yjc@docdocdoc.co.kr

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