Medi-city Daegu Council, Preparing for Post-COVID with Integrated Medical System
Medi-city Daegu Council, Preparing for Post-COVID with Integrated Medical System
  • 글·한정선 기자│번역·김성혜 인턴기자 (21guk@k-health.com)
  • 승인 2021.01.06 18:29
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Since 2005, Daegu has been heading to be a medical care-centered city jointly with the public and private sectors. In 2009, the city had presented a joint brand of local medical institutions, "Medi-city Daegu Council," which later achieved the grand prize of South Korea's most representative brand for six times in a row. Based on this, Daegu had shown successful prevention and control in the first outbreak of COVID-19, raising the status of "K-prevention." The efforts and role of the Medi-city Daegu Council (MDC), a public-private governance organization, played a key part in this. In response, Health Kyunghyang prepared a special series of articles about Medicity Daegu Council. <Editor's Note>

Medi-city Daegu Council had established high-tech medical complexes in 2010 and added forces in selecting a project of promoting advanced medical technologies for attracting international patients in 2011.
Medi-city Daegu Council had established high-tech medical complexes in 2010 and added forces in selecting a project of promoting advanced medical technologies for attracting international patients in 2011.

Daegu Metropolitan City's medical infrastructure ranks first in non-capital areas. Seven medical universities in the city turn out about 7,000 medical personnel annually and 20 percent of the nation's medical workforce. Accordingly, Daegu had ranked number one for the country's medical tourism cluster construction project between 2017 to 2019 and was selected as an advanced medical technology that attracts overseas patients for eight consecutive years.

■More than 20 thousands of foreign patients a year visit Daegu

Daegu declared “Medi-City Daegu” in April 2009 to create new growth engines for the medical industry and provide advanced medical services at the global level. For 11 years since then, the city has made remarkable progress in various fields such as the ▲Hospital Service Industry ▲Medical Tourism Industry, and ▲Convergence and Fusion of Medical Industry.

The reason why Daegu City was able to achieve tangible results in the medical field was because of the "Medi-City Daegu Council (MDC)," a public-private medical consultative body.

MDC has significantly contributed to establishing high-tech medical complexes in 2010 and selecting projects to support the development of medical technologies for attracting overseas patients in 2011. As a result, Daegu won first place for the "Relevance index about operation and diseases" in the National Health Care Survey released by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) in 2019.

MDC launched the medical tourism industry by opening the Daegu Medical Tourism Information Center in March 2012. According to the "Statistics on International Patients in Korea, 2019," released by the KHIDI, the number of international patients who visited Daegu exceeded 20,000 in 2016, 21,800 in 2017, and 31,183 in 2019. Currently, Daegu is the only non-capital area where more than 20,000 patients from abroad have been visiting annually.

"The reason why Daegu was able to advance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic was because of the MDC, a public-private medical consultative body," said Cha Soon-do, chairman of MDC. "Daegu had been collaborating with local medical institutions such as the MDC and was selected as the representative brand for the Korean medical city section for four years in a row and won 1st place in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's "Medical Tourism Cluster Development" for three years in a row. Everyone has been working for local medical development."

Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, the MDC is holding various events such as conferences and academic events to enhance the status of "Medi-City Daegu."
Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, the MDC is holding various events such as conferences and academic events to enhance the status of "Medi-City Daegu."

■MDC, preparing for a new leap over COVID-19

Despite the outbreak of COVID-19, MDC has been making efforts to enhance the status of “Medi-City Daegu.”

After attracting high-tech medical complex, MDC made great efforts to establish an integrated medical center and improve the IT convergence medical device industry, resulting in an increased number of health-related companies that had moved to Daegu. As of 2019, 33 pharmaceutical companies and 174 medical equipment companies moved to Daegu, the third largest region with medical companies after Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

Instead of taking a break, MDC made a business agreement with Daegu Techno Park in October 2019 to promote the local medical industry. These two organizations will develop cooperative projects such as establishing an interconnected system between local hospitals and utilizing medical data. It also plans to collaborate in jointly responding to ▲government-affiliated projects ▲exchanging human resources ▲co-hosting seminars and symposiums.

MDC also signed a business contract with the Daegu Gyeongbuk Medical Innovation Foundation (DGMIF) to revitalize the “high-tech medical industry” and help Daegu Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone Authority. This is to encourage Daegu to become a medical industry hub after the COVID-19 pandemic. MDC is planning to form a joint consultative body with public institutions and regional innovation agencies to establish the best local health care infrastructure in high-tech medical complexes.

MDC is actively exporting medical technologies through the "Asia Pacific Anti-Aging Conference (APAAC)." The APAAC is a reliable international academic event approved by the Korea Medical Association and designated by the Korea Tourism Organization as one of the four largest K-Conventions.

Anti-aging is a future high-value industry related to medical technology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, and food to slow down or prevent aging. MDC has been conducting international medical training since 2018 to promote the related medical industry with local medical personnel in the center and introduce the excellent medical technology of Daegu.

The APAAC was held online due to COVID-19. The participants of the online industry exhibition were 31 companies in the medical devices and cosmetics fields. Besides, online business consultations were conducted with 54 international buyers. The entire training course was aired live in Chinese and English.

"Although the nation is currently going through a hard time due to COVID-19, Daegu has been wisely overcoming with the accumulated medical infrastructure so far and is becoming recognized globally as a medical city. As the medical environment is also changing with the pandemic, we will make long-term plans to cover for the shortages," Chairman Cha Soon-do emphasized.

 



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