The number of foreign patients who visited Korea last year was counted at 1.17 million (excluding duplicates) as of the 29th. This is the highest ever. They spent more than 1.4 trillion won. The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) released a report titled 'Analysis Report on Foreign Patient Attraction Statistics' containing this information.
The cumulative number of foreign patients recorded from 2009 to last year was 5.05 million. The number of foreign patients is expected to increase from 610,000 in 2023 to 1.3 million to 1.4 million this year.
The nationality of patients was mostly Japanese, with over 441,000. Among Japanese patients, 94% were female. The age group of patients was predominantly in their 20s and 30s, comprising 74%. There were over 260,000 patients from China, over 101,000 from the United States, over 83,000 from Taiwan, and 38,000 from Thailand. Although direct flights from Russia were severed due to the war, 16,000 patients still visited.
The most popular medical specialty was dermatology, accounting for 57%. One dermatology clinic in Gangnam alone attracted over 10,000 foreign patients. Foreign patients received treatments such as laser procedures, Botox, and fillers. Following dermatology, the percentages were 11% for plastic surgery, 10% for internal medicine, 5% for health screening centers, and 3% for integrated traditional medicine.
Eighty-two percent of foreign patients sought care at outpatient medical institutions. Six percent utilized general hospitals, while 5% went to tertiary hospitals. Due to conflicts in medical policies, there was a decrease in foreign patients at tertiary hospitals. Foreign patients mainly sought hospitals located in Seoul, and some also visited hospitals in Busan and Jeju Island.
Han Dong-woo, head of the International Medical Center at the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), noted, "We have opened the era of over one million foreign patients for the first time," adding, "We will enhance the quality of K-medical services."