Saudi Arabia to import medical technology from South Korea

(MENAFN- Arab News) South Korea has agreed to export medical technologies to the Kingdom in a move which will further enhance bilateral cooperation between the two friendly countries.

South Korean Ambassador in Riyadh Kim Jin-soo called on Health Minister Muhammad Alhayazie and discussed bilateral cooperation in the health sector where he showcased achievements in the medical field in his country.

They also discussed the 'medical system and twinning project' an advanced medical system which aims to transfer the Korean medical environment to Saudi Arabia which will boost its health standards.

The South Korean diplomat Jungho Lee who is also the spokesperson of the embassy told Arab News on Sunday that the meeting on Thursday was 'very positive' and discussed agendas for the government-to-government cooperation with the involvement of some private stakeholders.

The meeting was also attended by Vice Minister for Health Affairs Mansour Al-Howasi and vice minister for planning and development Muhammad Khoshaim Lee informed.

'They recognized the huge potential in the health sector and both sides expressed a keen interest for bilateral cooperation with the Korean ambassador assuring Korean help in the Hospital Information System (HIS) in which it is a leader and the 'twinning project' the Korean diplomat said.

The twinning project is a program to help improve the standards of health services and management in the Kingdom by allowing it to copy the technology and system of Korean medical institutions.

He added 'The two countries are closely working in this direction and the National Guard Hospital Riyadh has already signed an agreement for HIS with us.'

There is also an ongoing project between Samsung Medical Center (SMC) Seoul and King Fahd Medical City (KFMC) Riyadh as the two concerned parties seek to collaborate on medical care know-how and have joint cooperation in brain research and clinical test centers he added.

SMC in collaboration with the KFMC is keen to have a brain tissue bank a facility that stores the brain tissues of patients that are identified during surgery or tests and is necessary for the study of brain tumor or dementia.

The two countries also discussed cooperation between the Kingdom and Korea to develop medical cities across the Kingdom Lee added.

Furthermore there is already a cooperation signed between them in the pharmaceutical sector and there are several Korean pharma companies which would also like to have joint cooperation in the sector.

Significantly there is a project under progress valued at $930 million to transfer Korean HIS to the Kingdom. When completed the project will mark the first case of exporting Korea's medical IT following medical devices and drugs exports. The transfer will be made to 3000 health care centers and 80 public hospitals in the Kingdom.

To this effect in Sept 2013 the then Health Minister Abdullah Al-Rabiah and his Korean counterpart Chin Young had signed a health care and medical agreement for joint cooperation.

There are ample opportunities in the health sector in the Kingdom which accounts for nearly 50 percent of the total Middle Eastern market.

The Kingdom's medical device market was estimated around $1.1 billion in 2013 and is expected to surpass $1.6 billion by 2018.