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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. Good morning, it's the

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Speaker 1: big day. I'm heading out to Korea today.

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Speaker 2: That's Julie Miller, a forty six year old stay at

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Speaker 2: home mum from New Jersey. She's on her way to

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Speaker 2: the airport to fly to South Korea.

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Speaker 1: As I'm sitting here, I am noticing all my neck issues,

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Speaker 1: so I'm very, very excited for these treatments.

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Speaker 2: Those treatments, botox shots and skin tightening are the reason

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Speaker 2: Julie's flying to Soul. It's a trip that will take

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Speaker 2: her about a day, and the final bill for those

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Speaker 2: treatments isn't cheap, about three thousand dollars, but it's almost

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Speaker 2: half the cost of doing it back home, and Julie

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Speaker 2: says they're worth the distance and every penny.

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Speaker 1: The biggest draw was people were very satisfied with their results,

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Speaker 1: and that combined with a better price than we have

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Speaker 1: in the US, it's like a no brainer.

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Speaker 2: Julie is among hundreds of thousands of tourists who travel

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Speaker 2: from all over the world to South Korea every year

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Speaker 2: for beauty treatments. Bloomberg senior reporter and Big Take Asia

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Speaker 2: host One h has been reporting on the rise of

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Speaker 2: medical tourism in the country.

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Speaker 3: South Korea's medical tourism business hit a record high of

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Speaker 3: six hundred thousand people in twenty twenty three, and they're

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Speaker 3: on track to get even higher. A third of the

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Speaker 3: tourists came in for cosmetic procedures in twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 3: and another twenty percent came into Korea for plastic surgery

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Speaker 3: right now, plasty facelifts, all that fun stuff.

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Speaker 2: It's a growing industry for South Korea's economy, and the

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Speaker 2: government wants to turn the country into a medical tourism

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Speaker 2: herber in Asia. But as the beauty market thrives, the

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Speaker 2: country's medical system faces other challenges.

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Speaker 3: All South Korea has been long suffering from this doctor shortage,

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Speaker 3: especially in emergency rooms and critical care, and at the

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Speaker 3: beginning of twenty twenty four, we saw these resident doctors

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Speaker 3: strike to protest low wages and these long working hours.

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Speaker 3: This has now been going on for almost a year.

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Speaker 3: At the same time, you've got this spectacular rise of

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Speaker 3: the medical tourism industry, You've got a rise in doctors

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Speaker 3: going into the more lucrative fields like plastic surgery, cosmetic centers, dermatology,

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Speaker 3: and all of these things are booming against this backdrop

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Speaker 3: where you've got people dying, people being refused from hospitals

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Speaker 3: because there's a shortage of doctors.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm

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Speaker 2: Rebecca Chung Wilkins. Every week we take you inside some

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Speaker 2: of the world's biggest and most powerful economies and the markets,

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Speaker 2: tycoons and businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today

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Speaker 2: on the show, the rise of medical tourism in South

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Speaker 2: Korea and how it's colliding with a shrinking supply of

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Speaker 2: doctors and a struggling medical system.

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Speaker 4: One.

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Speaker 3: Hello, hey there, how's it going.

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Speaker 4: Welcome.

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Speaker 3: It's kind of funny treating seeds, isn't it.

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Speaker 4: I know, so you usually sit on this end of

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Speaker 4: the microphone, and finally I can put you in the

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Speaker 4: hot seats. I'm going to try and spook you as much.

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Speaker 3: As possible as Farry.

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Speaker 2: Bloomberg's one hat is usually the host of The Big

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Speaker 2: Take Asia, but this week she's in the hot seat

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Speaker 2: to talk about her reporting on South Korea's medical tourism industry.

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Speaker 3: Medical tourism is this broad catch all that the government uses,

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Speaker 3: and it runs the gamut from people coming in for

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Speaker 3: health checkups, to cancer treatment, even to laser surgery. But

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Speaker 3: for most medical tourists, it's really about plastic surgery and skincare.

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Speaker 2: Along with the rise of K pop, k beauty is

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Speaker 2: enjoying a spectacular boom.

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Speaker 3: Everything about South Korean culture is so cool and hip

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Speaker 3: these days. I mean the fact that you know, Squid

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Speaker 3: Games is on television, Black Pinks Rosy per song apt

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Speaker 3: is like the global hit right now, playing on radios

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Speaker 3: and streaming everywhere. And so of course this whole K

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Speaker 3: pop culture is really feeding into this beauty esthetic. Looking young,

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Speaker 3: looking good, having dewy glass skin that really is a standard,

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Speaker 3: not just for Koreans, but I think for a lot

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Speaker 3: of young people all around the world.

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Speaker 2: Medical tourism isn't new. For years, people have been traveling

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Speaker 2: to places like Thailand and Brazil for treatments, but South

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Speaker 2: Korea is now seen as a rising destination for medical

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Speaker 2: and cosmetic care, where people seek out some of the

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Speaker 2: most affordable and advanced procedures to transform their bodies. It's

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Speaker 2: a highly competitive industry and one the Korean government has

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Speaker 2: been formally promoting since two thousand and nine.

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Speaker 3: The Korean government really wants to establish Korea as a

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Speaker 3: medical tourism hub. The lawmakers in twenty sixteen past this

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Speaker 3: law to support and help grow the medical tourism industry.

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Speaker 3: And it's got a whole system to basically license companies

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Speaker 3: that help to bring in these foreign patients to the clinics.

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Speaker 3: It gives subsidies to the companies and to the industry.

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Speaker 3: There's this government unit under the Health to Ministry that holds,

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Speaker 3: you know, medical tourism shows around the world, and they

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Speaker 3: offer medical tourism visas.

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Speaker 4: And you recently went to South Korea for one of

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Speaker 4: these treatments. Maybe that's why you're looking particularly glowing in

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Speaker 4: twenty thirty five five.

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Speaker 3: Well, you know, as you say, while in Korea, do

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Speaker 3: as the Koreans do. I mean, it's hard to be

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Speaker 3: in Korea and not feel like, geez, there's something wrong

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Speaker 3: with me. And I figured, since I'm writing about this,

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Speaker 3: I figure I should just do it myself and experience

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Speaker 3: for myself what that was like.

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Speaker 2: And what did your doctor tell you in your consultation?

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Speaker 3: Oh that was funny.

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Speaker 5: Hi.

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Speaker 3: My name is Juan yep So. I actually went to

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Speaker 3: two consultations. The very first one was for the facial

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Speaker 3: treatment that I got. I also went to go see

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Speaker 3: a plastic surgeon and asked him what would you do

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Speaker 3: to improve upon this? Here's here's what he said.

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Speaker 5: And you notice it's a really cookie and your TV

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Speaker 5: serve ved if Bob was here. Our foreheads are really flat,

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Speaker 5: so I recommend the fatcraft to hear. Your chin is

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Speaker 5: a really small and retracted, so we will recommend the

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Speaker 5: chin implant war shin advancement.

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Speaker 3: So essentially basically said, you shouldn't be walking out like

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Speaker 3: you do every day. You really should be wearing a mask.

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Speaker 5: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: One eventually got a micro needling an ultrasound therapy to

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Speaker 2: help lift and tighten her skin, and she says she

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Speaker 2: did feel like she was glowing afterwards and would do

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Speaker 2: it again. She got her treatments in Gangna. Yes, that's

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Speaker 2: it's the same Gangnam that's featured in the song Gangnam Style.

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Speaker 3: Gangnam is a district in Soul and the name literally

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Speaker 3: translates to south of the Han River, and it's known

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Speaker 3: as South Korea's Beverly Hills actually because a lot of

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Speaker 3: the wealthy residents and you've got these celebrities who live

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Speaker 3: there as well, So both a residential area but also

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Speaker 3: a very vibrant business district. I went on a tour

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Speaker 3: and entered about five of these high rises, and every

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Speaker 3: single one was filled with literally dozens and dozens and

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Speaker 3: dozens of plastic surgery, cosmetic centers, skin care clinics.

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Speaker 2: Based on data from the International Society of Esthetic Plastic Surgery,

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Speaker 2: the number of Korean cosmetic surgeons in private practice has

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Speaker 2: nearly doubled in the past decade to more than twenty

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Speaker 2: seven hundred, the highest concentration per capita globally. But South

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Speaker 2: Korea also has one of the lowest ratios of doctors

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Speaker 2: to population in the developed world, meaning there's not enough

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Speaker 2: doctors to care for people in need of medical attention.

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Speaker 3: The doctors, they've been on strike for almost a year,

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Speaker 3: some of them have resigned. There's a local media report

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Speaker 3: that said the number of er doctors fell more than

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Speaker 3: forty percent nationwide last year.

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Speaker 2: After the break. Where South Korea's medical tourism boom and

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Speaker 2: its doctor shortage collides. South Korea has seen a boom

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Speaker 2: in medical tourism in recent years, with hundreds of thousands

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Speaker 2: of people coming from around the world to get popular

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Speaker 2: cosmetic treatments, but tensions are escalating alongside that growth. For years,

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Speaker 2: South Korea has been plagued by a shortage of doctors,

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Speaker 2: especially in critical fields, and young doctors in particular have

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Speaker 2: been complaining about their low wages and harsh working conditions.

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Speaker 2: Blueberg to oneh met one of these doctors.

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Speaker 3: She's obgyn, an obstetrician gynecologist in her thirties, and she

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Speaker 3: basically said, listen, life as a resident is awful, right.

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Speaker 3: You don't make a lot of money to begin with,

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Speaker 3: but you're working these crazy work weeks. She was saying

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Speaker 3: that she had worked eighty hour weeks.

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Speaker 2: And in February last year, to address the shortfall of

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Speaker 2: medical staff, the government proposed increasing the quota for medical students.

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Speaker 3: They proposed to increase medical school admissions by two thirds

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Speaker 3: to about five thousand a year. You think that would

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Speaker 3: be a good thing, right, getting more doctors into the pipeline,

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Speaker 3: But in fact, the doctors were all up in arms

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Speaker 3: about it.

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Speaker 2: And why are they upset about the government increasing admissions

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Speaker 2: for medical students.

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Speaker 3: The doctors are saying that, hey, just adding more doctors

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Speaker 3: into the mix isn't going to solve the structural problems

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Speaker 3: that's really underpinning the shortage and it comes down to

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Speaker 3: what they say, or at least two critical issue shoes. One.

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Speaker 3: Korea's got this great national health insurance system. It serves

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Speaker 3: fifty two million citizens. It's one of the best healthcare systems.

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Speaker 3: But Koreans love to see their doctors, and they're seeing

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Speaker 3: their doctors way more than in other developed countries. So

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Speaker 3: these doctors are super super busy.

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Speaker 2: That's in part because healthcare is really accessible and affordable

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Speaker 2: in South Korea. Koreans can visit any medical institution, public

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Speaker 2: or private, and only need to pay a fraction of

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Speaker 2: the cost. The government then reimburses the hospitals and clinics

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Speaker 2: for the treatment. But hospitals say the reimbursement from the

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Speaker 2: government is too low.

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Speaker 3: So low in fact, that a lot of these hospitals

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Speaker 3: are barely financially stable and they're relying on this very

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Speaker 3: heavy and high turnover to stay in business. And of

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Speaker 3: course that puts a lot of burden back on the doctors,

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Speaker 3: especially these poor young residents who are working crazy eighty

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Speaker 3: work week hours.

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Speaker 2: In February twenty two, twenty four, nearly thirteen thousand doctors,

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Speaker 2: mostly residents and trainees, went on strike around the country.

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Speaker 2: Some of them have resigned altogether. The strike has been

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Speaker 2: going on for almost a year. The guynecologist she also

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Speaker 2: joined the walkout with her colleagues and has since quit

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Speaker 2: her job at the hospital. She's now working as a

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Speaker 2: dermatologist at a skincare clinic and soul. She said she's

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Speaker 2: happy with that choice now that she can spend more

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Speaker 2: time with her baby.

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Speaker 3: There are just these fundamental structural problems that the government

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Speaker 3: still isn't addressing, and so you do have doctors leaving

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Speaker 3: critical medical specialties and entering fields that aren't dependent on

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Speaker 3: the healthcare reimbursement system, like dermatology, like plastic surgery.

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Speaker 2: For things like cosmetic procedures or plastic surgery, such treatments

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Speaker 2: aren't covered by national insurance, so doctors working in these

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Speaker 2: specialties are able to charge and earn a lot more.

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Speaker 3: The doctors say, as long as you have this current

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Speaker 3: national health insurance system in place with super low reimbursements,

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Speaker 3: you're always going to have a shortage of doctors because

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Speaker 3: nobody's going to want to stay in these critical care

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Speaker 3: specialties that don't pay a whole lot when they can see, oh,

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Speaker 3: they're fellow dermatologists making twice as much as they are.

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Speaker 2: Even more, the impasse has led to a disruption of

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Speaker 2: essential medical services at hospitals. Major hospitals have had to

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Speaker 2: cut back on surgeries and emergency room operation hours. In

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Speaker 2: some cases, the shortage has had deadly consequences. A report

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Speaker 2: from Dunguok University said some thirty seven hundred patients have

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Speaker 2: died since twenty seventeen because local hospitals didn't have enough

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Speaker 2: doctors to treat patients and refused to provide care. After

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Speaker 2: the walkout, the Health Ministry began deploying military doctors to

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Speaker 2: hospital emergency rooms to deal with the ongoing staff shortage

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Speaker 2: and in the long run, the government told Bloomberg, GET

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Speaker 2: pledged to spend about twenty billion dollars to complete medical

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Speaker 2: reform and is continuing to monitor the situation. There's another

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Speaker 2: consequence to all of this. It's impossible to ignore, and

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Speaker 2: you can see it on the faces of people you

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Speaker 2: pass on the street in Korea and beyond.

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Speaker 3: It's hard because in Korea when you walk around, everybody

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Speaker 3: is put together right, And can you imagine if you

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Speaker 3: don't subscribe to that kind of esthetic, If that's not

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Speaker 3: you right, I mean, how out of place you feel

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Speaker 3: and when there are places that are offering six dollars

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Speaker 3: botox shots, how can you refuse? And so I think

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Speaker 3: there is such an immense pressure for people to stay young,

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Speaker 3: to look young, to stay good, and I think it's

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Speaker 3: really hard for people who perhaps don't subscribe to that

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Speaker 3: kind of aesthetic and value.

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Speaker 2: One checked in with Julie, the women from New Jersey

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Speaker 2: that we heard earlier a month and a half after

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Speaker 2: her procedures.

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Speaker 3: So how are you doing? You said, a lot of

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Speaker 3: people were noticing made some nice comments about your face

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Speaker 3: and skins.

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah they did. They said that I'm aging backwards.

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Speaker 2: That's great.

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Speaker 3: Well, how do you feel about it?

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Speaker 1: I don't know that I noticed much until a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks. And then a couple of weeks later, at

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Speaker 1: some point I looked in the mirror and I was like, Oh,

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Speaker 1: my skin is looking really good.

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Speaker 3: Are you thinking about making another trip anytime soon?

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Speaker 1: I would actually do it, like in a year.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Are you thinking next time you'll come back with

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Speaker 3: a friend, or you'll come back by yourself, or what

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Speaker 3: are you thinking?

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Speaker 1: My sister in law seems really interested, So maybe.

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Speaker 2: This is the big take. Asia from Bloomberg News I'm

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Speaker 2: Rebecca Cheung Wilkins. This episode was produced by Young Young,

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Speaker 2: Naomi Ung, and Jessica Beck. It was mixed by Alex Sagura,

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Speaker 2: sound designed by Jessica, and fact check by Naomi. It

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Speaker 2: was edited by Aaron Edwards and David Rocks. There was

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Speaker 2: additional reporting Guy Sella. Naomi Shavin is our senior producer,

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Speaker 2: Elizabeth Ponso is our senior editor, Nicole Beemsterbor is our

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Speaker 2: executive producer, and Stage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts.

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Speaker 2: Please follow and review The Big Take Asia wherever you

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Speaker 2: listen to podcasts. It really helps new listeners find the show.

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Speaker 4: See you next time.