The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) has established a number of collaborative projects with partners in the Middle East. To learn more about this, Middle East Health spoke to Jee Young Yoon, General Manager of KHIDI Abu Dhabi, about their activities in the region.
The Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) is playing an increasingly important role in healthcare in the UAE and the wider region with sharing of expertise and the provision professional medical services, as well as being the facilitator for a growing medical tourism business between Korea and the Middle East.
KHIDI is a government-affiliated institute under the umbrella of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea. Since its establishment in 1999, “KHIDI has contributed to enhancing the global competitiveness of the health industry and improving public health”, Jee Young said.
In 2012 KHIDI established a branch office in Abu Dhabi to oversee the whole MENA region. It is one of several overseas branches.
“Our missions include supporting export and expansion of Korean healthcare services – that is medical device and pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, etc. – and assisting foreign patients for medical tourism. These missions stem from our motivation to contribute to development of healthcare in the counterpart region. We have signed MoUs with various governmental entities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar for cooperation.
“In our collaborations with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman, KHIDI has been providing fellowship programs that include hands-on practice in specialties such as cardiology, gastroenterology, general surgery, neurology, orthopaedic surgery, and so on.”
Speaking specifically about KHIDI’s collaborations in the UAE, Jee Young said KHIDI has been working closely with SEHA, the Abu Dhabi health services company and the UAE’s largest healthcare network, since 2012.
“In October 2020, KHIDI and SEHA signed a MoU with extensive coverage of cooperation. The main areas of cooperation included in the MoU are medical training, clinical research, medical tourism, provision of medical services, supply chain management, and technical support in areas of AI, IoT, and the cloud.
“Periodically, SEHA and KHIDI hold joint conferences and seminars with diverse topics for exchange of knowledge, skills, and insight.”
Jee Young also noted that KHIDI has been cooperating with Department of Health since 2011 and UAE Armed Forces since 2013.
“Through these cooperations, until the end of 2019, a total of 5,451 government-funded patients were referred to Korea.”
He explained this put Korea second only to the United States with regards to receiving UAE-government-funded patients. About 1,000 government-funded patients from the UAE visit Korean medical facilities annually.
“There are more of these extensive cooperation plans under way,” he added. “KHIDI Abu Dhabi is receiving more inquiries regarding Korean medical professionals and technology transfers. Lately, there has been a growing interest from sovereign and private funds in the UAE for innovative healthcare technology from companies in Korea, such as AI-supported software developed by Korean ventures that can detect and diagnose certain cancers and diseases with higher accuracy than doctors.
“We will continue to expand our cooperation with the UAE to answer the growing demand [for our professional services and technology] and look forward to witnessing the achievements these partnerships will generate.”
Looking specifically at the medical device sector in which Korea is an important stakeholder with numerous innovative companies, Jee Young explained that in a competitive environment many small to medium medical device companies are managing very well to maintain their global competitiveness.
“Several Korean medical device companies have branch offices and warehouses in the UAE. These Korean medical device companies specialize in dental imaging equipment, dental implant fixture, ultrasonic diagnosis, and in vitro diagnostics (IVD) products.”
He cited as examples: The Korean company Seegene, with a regional base in Sharjah specialises in IVD products including COVID-19 diagnostic test-kits; Osstem Implant, based in Dubai, is one of the world’s largest dental implant material producers. And Vatech, also in Dubai, is one of the most promising dental imaging device developers in Korea.
Looking at the sharing of knowledge and cooperation with the UAE with regard to medical services, Jee Young pointed out that the number of Korean medical professionals in the UAE along with recent expansion of Korean hospitals in the region is “astonishing”.
“[Through this] medical service cooperation between the UAE and Korea has been boosted both in quality and quantity.”
He said that since Korea’s highly qualified medical professionals and its hospital services were first introduced to the UAE following the designation of Seoul National Hospital to manage the running of Sheikh Khalifa Specialty Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah, there has been a series of important advances.
Woorideul Spine Center in Healthpoint, Abu Dhabi; Himchan Hospital in University of Sharjah Hospital (2018); Nanuri Spine and Joint Hospital in Saudi-German Hospital (2020), and the most recent Joint and Spine Center at Burjeel Royal Hospital in Al Ain.
“It is not a coincidence that most of their specialties are orthopaedic. Many orthopaedic professionals in Korea undertake endoscopic surgery and this is still a new treatment method in UAE. Therefore, there is a high demand for skilled Korean doctors in orthopaedics,” Jee Young explained.
