The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW보건복지부) has dispatched a digital healthcare team to Expo Hospital 2017 in Santiago, Chile, to develop markets for Korea's medical devices and healthcare platforms, officials said Monday.

Thirty-four people, representing medical institutions, medical devices, and information technology companies such as Bioneer, Trismed, and 3D Medivision, participated in the delegation. The MOHW, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), local embassies and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) are supporting the mission.

Participants consult with Korean companies that participated in the “Expo Hospital 2017” in Santiago, Chile, on Aug. 31.

MOHW and the Ministry of Health of Chile also signed a project agreement on the Chilean healthcare monitoring service project using Korean information and communication technology (ICT) last Friday. A consortium led by Gachon University Hospital will carry out the project.

The project is according to a memorandum of understanding between the two ministries to provide health monitoring and patient self-management education services devices for 150 people with hypertension and diabetes in Chile using digital healthcare equipment.

Korean companies developed the blood glucose meter and ICT-based collaborative system used in this project, and the medical staffs of Chile public health centers -- one health center in Santiago with the other in Concepcion -- conduct the monitoring for local patients.

The Chilean government has instituted the Ricarte Soto Act last November to improve the public accessibility to rare drugs, and the delegation conducted marketing activities by examining the list of essential Korean drugs and delivering them to state institutions in Chile.

“Korea, which has excellent medical equipment products combined with IT, is highly likely to grow globally,” a delegate said. “If the government and private sector cooperate to remove overseas barriers as we did in this project, the Korean medical industry can expand Latin American markets sharply.”

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