Korea’s ONE STOP Medical Tourism Service Centers - A Great Success

By Carole Ann Goldsmith Copyright © 2011 - All Rights Reserved

Going on a trip across the sea from Japan to sparkling Korea then check out the the ‘ONE STOP’ medical tourism service centers.  

Following article Written December 2009 and first published then in Official Beauty Report USA.

The ‘ONE STOP’ medical tourism service centers (MTSC) opened by the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) last July (in 2008), have proven to be a great success. An average of 261 people are visiting the centers every day.

Located at both Korea’s Lncheon International airport, Seoul and at the KTO tourist information center (TIC) in downtown Seoul, the MTSC staff assists travelers with everything from visa processing to making appointments at medical clinics. Center staff also arranges link-ups with highly professional medical services including herbal medicine, dental and fertility practices, eye and skin clinics, cardiovascular surgeons and aesthetic surgery. The center’s brochure suggests that surgery fees in Korea are only a third, sometimes even a tenth of those in the U.S.A.

Ms. Sunwoo Lee from KTO’s Strategic Tourism Product Team said that as of 31 December 2008, there were 50,456 visitors to the one-stop service centers, or 261 people per day.

The KTO’s TIC ONE STOP center has medical equipment for visitors to check their health including a BMI (body mass index) machine, a stress measurement device, a blood pressure meter and a machine to detect skin aging. Visitors can discuss their results with professionals at the center. According to Ms. Lee, all medical devices are very popular especially the BMI machine used to analyze body composition (fat mass, muscle mass) by using a micro-current. Center staff then advise participants on a suitable exercise and diet plan.

The airport MTSC has a lounge especially for medical travelers, a refrigerator to store drugs and free internet connection, so travelers can browse for information on medical service providers and travel agents. Both centers including the medical testing equipment, are free of charge to use.

For on-line information on Korean Medical Tourism see:

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/mt/tourism.kto?cmd=main&md=enu