Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital

Hallym University Medical Center (HUMC) participated in the Moscow International Exhibition Travel & Tourism (MITT) in a bid to reach out to broader patients out of Korea.

Over 3,000 companies from 197 countries took part in the exhibition that lasted from March 20 to March 23, 2013. The MITT is the largest tourism exhibition in Russia and CIS region.

Eleven Korean hospitals including HUMC, seven tour agencies and four regional governments in Korea introduced state-of-the-art medical treatment and related equipment. Korea is the only country in Asia to participate in the exhibition under the theme of medical tourism.

In 2012 alone, 12,000 Russians visited Korea for medical tourism. Given that most of these patients are from far eastern areas such as Vladivostok, there’s ample possibility that inland Russian market could be a hidden gem. It is estimated that around 400,000 Russians based in Moscow travel European countries such as Germany and Israel for medical treatment every year.

Around 250 international visitors visited an HUMC booth during the four day event and HUMC officials were busy introducing HUMC’s specialized treatments. HUMC officials consulted with visitors from 70 companies around the world.

HUMC also discussed with executives at one of the Russian gas transportation companies in western Siberia, about ways to provide a medical welfare service tailored to the company’s employees.

“Russia and CIS are technically a one region and penetrating into Moscow’s medical tourism market will provide a momentum for Korean medical service providers and related industries to secure a bridgehead that links markets in Middle East and Europe,” said Jeong Jae-seon, chief of Korea Tourism Organization’s Moscow office.

By Jong Hun Im, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (imjonghun@hallym.or.kr)