| In this picture from 2022, a Kazakhstani patient receives a comprehensive medical examination at Ain Hospital in Incheon. Courtesy of Incheon Metropolitan City |
Two people from the group, who are cancer patients, arrived in Incheon in July to receive treatments at Catholic Kwandong University International St. Mary's Hospital. The rest of the group will go to six other hospitals in the port city to receive comprehensive medical examinations as well as optometric and gynecological tests during August, according to the Health Promotion Division under the Incheon Metropolitan City's Health and Welfare Bureau.
Following the treatments, the visitors will be guided by the city authority to local tourism venues including Ganghwa Island and Song Island.
The medical tourism package includes lodging in the Harbor Park Hotel, operated by the Incheon Tourism Organization, which provided discounts to the visitors from Kazakhstan, according to the city authority. Asiana Airlines, which offers direct flights between Incheon International Airport and the Kazakh capital, Almaty, also provided discounted air fares to the travelers.
The Incheon city government opened a medical tourism promotion center in Almaty on June 28. Six medical centers in Incheon and two private medical tourism companies based in Almaty are involved in the program.
Shin Nam-sik, chief of the Health and Welfare Bureau, said the package tours are one of the city government's goals to sustain networks between the city government, local medical centers and medical tourism product developers to keep attracting foreign patients to the city.