Korean Wave Crests: Medical Korea Sponsoring World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress

WASHINGTON - Sept. 9, 2014 - PRLog -- Foreign visitors to Asia are riding a new version of the Korean Wave, which is cresting, in large part, due to inexpensive treatments and relaxed travel regulations, according to Medical Korea, a sponsor of the 7^th World Medical Tourism and Global Healthcare Congress, Sept;. 20-24, 2014, in Washington, D.C., the Medical Tourism Association® announced today.

Some 210,000 medical tourism patients visited South Korea last year, up from 40,000 in 2009, when the Council for Korea Medicine Overseas campaign was launched to promote health travel, according to Medical Korea, a joint initiative of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute and the Korea Tourism Organization.

The new surge in cross-border surgeries into Korea is energized by a growing number of medical tourism patients from China, who -- KTO reports – numbered 56,075 last year, up 26.5 percent from the previous 2012. KTO regularly organizes plastic surgery expos in Beijing and Shanghai, where K-Pop singers and dancers perform and women learn how to do their makeup like Korean Wave stars. Meanwhile, groups of doctors offer advice to prospective medical tourism patients.

Medical tourism means business as well. Travel agencies are offering tour packages that combine several days of sightseeing in Korea with longer periods of plastic surgery. But, there is more to Korea, a leader in dentistry, dermatology and plastic surgery, than cosmetics. Patients -- of whom about 25 percent travel from the United States – visit Korea from across the globe for the treatmentof cancers, cardiac and vascular diseases, spinal disc and organ transplantation.

The World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Congress attracts some 3,000 key stakeholders – hospital administrators, doctors and clinicians, employers, government policy makers, insurance executives, facilitators, and hospitality and tourism interests – from across the globe to share their experiences and identify and solve issues that bear significantly on the industry. For a preliminary list of speakers, go to: http://www.medicaltourismcongress.com/speakers_year/2014-speakers/

The Congress agenda features not only the 5th Global Ministerial Summit, but the 3^rd Medical Directors Summit, the 2^nd Global Women’s Leadership Summit, regional and industry forums, and educational workshops included among more than 1,000 networking meetings for up to 200 qualified buyers of healthcare. Participants, sponsors and invited speakers can keep abreast of Congress updates at www.MedicalTourismCongress.comor make an impact today on theCongress networking platform at http://www2.mtcongress.com/wmtc-networking/

About the Medical Tourism Association®
The Medical Tourism Association® is the first membership-based international nonprofit trade organization for the medical tourism and healthcare industry made up of top international hospitals, healthcare providers, medical travel facilitators, insurance companies, and other affiliates committed to promoting the highest level of quality healthcare to patients in a global environment. www.MedicalTourismAssociation.com