South Korea Medical Tourism Diary. Part 8: Parkside Rehabilitation Hospital and return to Seoul
Continued from Part 7: Good Gang-An Hospital
November 29, 2007
Of all the hospitals we visited in Korea, the Parkside Rehabilitation Hospital in Busan seems to offer the greatest opportunity for medical tourism in the near term. The 81-bed rehab facility, which also sees about 80 or 90 outpatients per day is just a year old. The center's director, Dr. Insun Park-Ko was very friendly --jovial wouldn't be too strong a description. She greeted us at the entrance to the conference room and impressed us with her vision for rehab and the design and operation of the facility. The building and equipment are very modern and cheery. I've done PT myself at a leading clinic in Boston and Parkside is at least as nice.
Dr. Park-Ko was the first hospital leader in Korea that I have heard describe a credible target market segment and positioning. Basically, she wants to attract Korean Americans on the West Coast of the US who need speech therapy after a stroke. As she pointed out, patients need to do speech rehab in their native language. For patients whose native language is Korean, it's going to be a heck of a lot easier to find Korean language therapists in Busan than in the US. Busan is a pleasant, beachfront community, and the hospital can make arrangements with nearby residences to house patients and their families so they can have therapy on an outpatient basis.
If you are connected with the Korean community on the US West Coast and are looking for a promising entrepreneurial opportunity, there are possibilities here worth examining. In particular it could make sense to connect with a TPA serving Korean owned and operated businesses.
Next to Parkside is a UN cemetery where Korean War veterans are buried. We had a look from the hospital's rooftop and then took a stroll there. The park has sections for various nationalities that fought in the Korean War, including Americans, Canadians, Australians and so on. In addition there is a black granite wall reminiscent of the memorials on the Mall in Washington, DC where the dead are listed by country and state. It's a peaceful place where we saw many Koreans who looked liked they were veterans of that era. Dr. Park-Ko mentioned that she has sent her students over to the park in wheelchairs to experience what it's like as a PT patient. After an hour wheeling around they come back exhausted.
Once we finished with the park we headed back to the KTX station for the bullet train back to Seoul. I had the chance to interview James Bae from the Council for Korea Medicine Overseas Promotion while we were traveling at speeds close to 300 kilometers per hour (180 miles per hour). The background noise is barely audible in the recording. The closest thing to a high-speed train in the US is the Acela Express between Boston and Washington, which travels a lot slower, is louder and not as smooth, and is much more expensive to ride. It doesn't have wireless Internet service, which would have been nice.
If prospective American medical tourists are concerned about whether Korean infrastructure is up to snuff they should take a look in the mirror.
We got back to the Shilla in Seoul a little past 7 pm, then Stephanie Sulger and I had dinner with Een-Mi Choi, a medical reporter for Money Today, a Korean news site. The reporter asked reasonably sophisticated questions about our visit and seemed pleased with our answers. James Bae acted as our translator, so Stephanie and I have someone to blame if we are misquoted! In any case it should be a kick to see the trip written up in Korean. I think it may appear in print as well as online.
See Part 9: Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital