South Korea’s foreign-patient program does not track who stops aftercare
Data released by lawmaker So Byung-hoon shows a gap in tracking care after foreign patients return home, according to The Korea Herald.
South Korea’s Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) does not separately track how many foreign patients stop aftercare after returning home or why, according to government data released on October 20 by lawmaker So Byung-hoon and reported by The Korea Herald. The gap limits what the program’s performance figures can show about care after treatment.
The government-funded program offers preliminary consultations to foreign patients seeking treatment in South Korea and follow-up care after they return to their home countries. It uses information and communications technology to provide those services, The Korea Herald reported, citing data So obtained from KHIDI.
How KHIDI counts consultations and aftercare
KHIDI assessed participating institutions against a minimum annual target of 80 cases, counting preliminary consultations and completed aftercare together. So said an institution could therefore meet the target with 80 preliminary consultations and no aftercare cases. KHIDI recorded completed aftercare cases, but did not separately count patients who discontinued follow-up or record their reasons.
All four institutions participating in each year from 2023 through 2025 met their combined targets, and some reported more than three times the minimum, according to the report. Those totals do not establish whether patients received adequate follow-up care after returning home; the figures combine services delivered before treatment with care delivered afterward.
The program received 1.1 billion won in funding from 2023 to 2025. A further 380 million won was allocated in 2026 to a consortium of five institutions, The Korea Herald reported. The program operates under a law supporting overseas expansion of medical services and the attraction of international patients.
So calls for separate aftercare checks
So said performance checks relied solely on documents submitted by participating institutions, with too few spot checks or field surveys to establish whether patients had received sufficient care. He called on the Ministry of Health and Welfare and KHIDI to assess preliminary consultations and aftercare separately and to track why patients discontinue follow-up.
In a written response reported by The Korea Herald, KHIDI said it would consider improving verification, including spot checks to determine whether services were properly provided. The institute’s guidance to foreign patients also advises them to ask doctors or staff about appropriate post-treatment care in their home country.
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Sources and context
- After foreign patients leave Korea, aftercare goes untrackedThe Korea Herald
- KHIDI English-language information on foreign patients and post-treatment careKorea Health Industry Development Institute
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.