Korea’s Asan Medical Center (AMC) has received over 1,000 foreign patients monthly this year despite the travel setbacks from Covid-19, 20 percent higher than the a year-ago period amid rising international activities and reputation.

Last year, AMC treated some 12,000 foreign patients, with patients from the United States making up the largest 30 percent, followed by those from the United Arab Emirates 11 percent, China 10 percent, Mongolia 9 percent, Saudi Arabia 8 percent and Kazakhstan 5 percent.

Many of the foreign patients at AMC suffer severe illnesses requiring advanced medical treatment and intensive care. But they endured the complicated trip plus two-week quarantine to see doctors at the hospital.

AMC said it carried out 130 living donor liver transplantation operations from January to March 2020 when the Covid-19 outbreaks put a temporary halt to organ transplantation at major medical centers across the world including the U.S. due to virus infection concerns.

The medical center also became the first in the world to perform 7,000 liver transplantation operations during the Covid-19 period, on top of a series of successful surgical treatments – 1,000 cases of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), 500 cases of robot-assisted surgery for esophageal cancer, 6,000 cases of kidney transplantation, 8,000 cases of heart transplantation, 35,000 cases of breast cancer operation, and 33,000 cases of colorectal cancer operation.

One notable surgery was lung transplantation for Covid-caused pulmonary fibrosis patient transported from Mexico to Korea in September.

AMC has been proactive in sharing medical practices with professionals across the world, offering trainings to some 100 physicians and researchers from abroad in the last one year. Before the Covid outbreak, the Korean medical center had over 3,600 medical scientists from 90 some countries visited in 10 years to learn about its advanced medical practices.

In April, AMC sponsored the Cardiovascular Summit Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Asia Pacific. The conference was virtually attended by 6,438 medical professionals from 80 countries. Asan Rhinoplasty Symposium held in May drew some 1,300 attendees from 75 countries.

By Cho Jeehyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]