SEOUL // Seoul St Mary’s Hospital admits patients from the Middle East in record numbers.
“We provide patients with safety first,” said Dr Hoo Geun Chun, the director of the hospital’s Comprehensive Cancer Institute and professor of internal medicine. “We specialise in clinical services, medical research and education.”
The hospital, which has 6,000 beds, admitted more than 200,000 international patients in 2013. “That number has been increasing, especially for the past two years, with patients coming from the Middle East and the UAE,” he said. “There is an almost 250 per cent increase every year.”
The hospital is well reputed, its doctors performing their first kidney transplant in 1969.
“Half the floor for clinical services is designated to Middle Eastern patients, which is about 22 rooms,” Dr Hoo said. “We have the busiest bone marrow transplant centre outside the US, and about 600 to 800 patients at the cancer centre every day.”
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, visited Emirati patients and their families at the hospital in February last year.
“He was very pleased at the time,” Dr Hoo said.
The hospital has been working for the past year to establish a health-screening centre in the capital. “We signed a contract last September and it will officially open in a few weeks,” Dr Hoo said.
“We will have Emirati patients there, and Koreans from the UAE were also so pleased to have a medical facility to visit and get assistance. We are very excited about this opportunity and we are trying to introduce Korean medical services in the UAE.”
The Asan Medical Centre is another among 12 hospitals where Emiratis can receive treatment in Seoul. “We mainly deal with organ transplants such as liver, kidney, pancreas and the heart,” said Jason Bae, the manager of business development at Asan’s International Healthcare Centre.
“The families of our Emirati patients travel with them, and it’s very important as they provide the support for them. The Abu Dhabi Government provides all the rest, including a prayer room, an Arabic interpreter, Halal food and signs at each door warning people to knock before entering.”
The hospital has 24 Emirati outpatients and eight inpatients, with more than 100 undergoing treatment each year.
cmalek@thenational.ae
