Jan 5, 2022

Himedi’s platform draws over 10,000 foreign subscribers 바로가기 기자명 Lee Han-soo 닫기 Himedi, a company that has developed a platform to attract foreign patients, said that foreign subscribers had exceeded 10,000. Himedi's platform for attracting foreign patients has surpassed 10,000 subscribers. The company introduced medical concierge services, including interpretation, accommodation, and transportation, for patients from the Middle East in 2011. In August 2020, it also launched the platform to lure foreign patients. Most subscribers are seriously ill patients from Mongolia, the Middle East, and Kazakhstan. The number of subscribers had increased rapidly since June last year when the company launched non-face-to-face medical services for patients unable to visit Korea due to Covid-19. The number of non-face-to-face requests has surpassed 3,700 in six months of service, with the cumulative number of requests reaching 4,700. As the platform targets foreigners with severe diseases difficult to treat in their countries, many patients who received non-face-to-face treatment come to Korea later to get face-to-face treatment, the company said. Last year, the average treatment cost per patient who entered Korea after non-face-to-face treatment through Himedi stood at 17 million won ($14,183). The highest was 100 million won for a patient who received rectal cancer surgery, while the lowest was 10 million won for a brain tumor surgery. The most frequently requested non-face-to-face treatment were female diseases such as infertility, uterine fibroids, gynecological cancer, followed by orthopedic diseases, such as the spine and joints, and internal medical diseases, such as cancer and tumors, according to Himedi. "Himedi's customers are foreign patients who are severely ill, and most of them require Korean medical services," Himedi co-CEO Seo Don-gyo said. "It will become a platform for drawing foreign patients, which provides a good solution not only to patients who have difficulty receiving quality treatment in their home country but also to Korean hospitals whose profits have deteriorated due to Covid-19." The company plans to expand its services to Southeast Asia and English-speaking countries, where demand is high for plastic surgery, beauty, and severe diseases, to increase Korea's global market share to attract foreign patients worth 100 trillion won annually.