[SEOUL, South Korea=Whowired] April 24, 2012 -- The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced, "Medical Korea 2012 - The 3rd Global Healthcare & Medical Tourism Conference", was held at the COEX Grand Ballroom from April 17th to 19th with about 700 participants from 36 nations.

The main theme of the conference was "Future Strategy for Emerging Markets", focusing on the Middle-east, Southeast Asia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Under this theme, discussions centered on the demands of medical services and cooperation methods, strategies for international marketing and instances of successful practices for medical tourism and global cooperation on the basis of mobile medical resources. As the demand for Medical Tourism has been diversifying, corresponding tactics were discussed including the U-Health based systems and others.

The conference program consisted of 7 sessions and special forums. Panel discussion was conducted on the new idea of "Convergency of inbound and outbound for lifelong care". A special session introducing South Korea's leading hospital IT system and cancer treatment technology was also provided.

On the side, business meetings between key buyers and the Korean medical institutions & referral agencies were held to provide opportunities to drive business results. Korean Hospital Experience Events were also coordinated to allow the 52 foreign participants from 16 nations to personally experience the excellence of Korean medical services.

During this event, officials from the Abu Dhabi Health decided to expand the patient referral agreement with the Korean medical institutions. Separate business forums with Saudi Arabia and Iraq were arranged with plans to seek practical methods of cooperation of the government.

During the conference, a celebration banquet was held to introduce the Medical Korea Charity Program. Appreciation plaques were presented to the related institutions providing pro-bono surgeries to 32 children from 11 countries. The underage patients benefiting from the program were invited to join the banquet **9 children from 5 countries**.

A spokesman from the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated, "Through this conference, we found the answers to many of our questions including the world trend on global healthcare and the U-Health model as well as the future prospects for Medical Korea."

For more information:

Please contact Yang Ji-young of the Korea Health Development Institute's Global Healthcare Business Department at +82-43-713-8248 or korexport1@gmail.com.

SOURCE Korea Health Industry Development Institute