Patients from Abu Dhabi arrive in Korea for their treatment

10 January 2012
-First patient since Health Authority-Abu Dhabi signed MOU with Korean hospitals
-Male patient from Dubai also in Korea for treatment

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that the first patient referred from the Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (HAAD) arrived in Korea on Dec. 20.

The Korean government arranged for domestic hospitals to sign a pact on patient referral and transfer with the Arab state when HAAD Chairman Mohammed Sultan Al Hameli and CEO Zaid Daoud Al Siksek visited Korea on Nov. 25.

HAAD signed the deal with Samsung Seoul Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital and Asan Medical Center.

Following the signing, delegates of HAAD visited Korea again from Dec. 4 to 9 to designate nominee hospitals at the United Arab Emirates Embassy and finalize details on fund transfers and referral processes.

The first patient is a male born in 1983. His vocal chords were damaged due to the use of respirators for prolonged periods during childhood. Dr. Kwon Taek-kyoon of Seoul National University Hospital is in charge of his treatment.

HAAD granted treatment approval to Seoul National University Hospital and said that the patient will be staying at the hospital from Dec. 21 to 23 to undertake necessary examinations. The hospital is providing the patient with many services beyond just medical including airport pick-up/drop-off, interpretation and accommodations, among others.

HAAD has referred a second patient to Asan Medical Center, which will take over kidney transplantation procedures once the operation is confirmed feasible. The patient will visit Korea with the donor.

The second patient was considered "unlikely to be healed" by numerous American and British physicians. If the transplantation succeeds, it will provide an invaluable opportunity to show the world Korea's excellent medical technique, the ministry said.

After the signing with HAAD the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) began to express interest in entering into a similar agreement with Korea. Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare sent a delegation to Dubai from Dec. 11 to 15 at which time the two sides agreed on sending a pilot patient to Korea to study and confirm the logistics of the agreement.

The aforementioned pilot patient, a male born in 1943, arrived in Korea on Dec. 19. He received an endoscopic mucosal resection for a tumor in his throat. His treatment, led by Dr. Chung Chun-yong of the Asan Medical Center, is expected to be approximately six days.

The DHA supports about 1,000 patients per year in receiving medical treatment overseas in such countries as Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Thailand.

If the pilot program is successful, the DHA delegation will visit Korea again next month to iron out more details.

"After constantly holding promotional activities in the Middle East we finally managed to enter into an MOU with Dubai in March and a patient referral-transfer pact in November with Abu Dhabi. Things are paying off and we are expecting a positive word-of-mouth effect in the region," a ministry official said.

"We will seek to make similar arrangements with Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman, which all have similar patient referral systems. Hopefully, all of our efforts will result in a K-medicine boom," he added.

He stressed that not only medical service but other support services should be provided to patients and that medical institutions should make extra efforts in patient management.