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2025 Busan Medical Tourism Field Networking Day Held

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The Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that the “2025 Busan Medical Tourism Field Networking Day” will be held today (June 18) at 2:00 PM at the Busan Eurasia Platform.

○ The event is a practical internship matching program aimed at enhancing the real-world skills of new graduates from the 2025 Busan Medical Tourism Interpreter Training Program by connecting them with certified institutions for attracting foreign patients.

○ About 80 graduates and 18 Busan-based institutions registered as foreign patient-attracting institutions will participate in the matching and networking session.

During the event, the institutions will look to recruit suitable trainees, while the program graduates will promote their strengths as professional medical tourism interpreters.

○ Among the institutions registered for attracting foreign patients, 18 were selected to participate in the internship program as host institutions. These institutions will conduct on-site interviews and recruit trainees directly.

• ●Medical Interpretation Coordinator: Supports services such as appointment scheduling and consultations for foreign patients, develops medical tourism packages, and assists medical institutions with overseas expansion.

○ The program graduates will use this networking opportunity to promote themselves as professional interpreters and medical coordinators in the medical tourism sector.

The 18 selected trainees will undergo field-based specialized training at their respective institutions for 1 to 4 months. The City will provide each trainee with a monthly stipend of KRW 1.75 million.

○ The internship will be operated under a tripartite agreement among the program’s implementing agency (Busan Economic Promotion Agency), the host institution, and the trainee. Each trainee will complete 32 hours of training per week as a medical interpretation coordinator.

Last year (2024), the number of foreign medical tourists visiting Busan exceeded 30,000, accelerating the city's advancement as a global medical tourism hub. As demand for medical interpretation services continues to rise, the importance of skilled interpreters is being reemphasized.

○ Between May and June of this year, the City provided training to 104 new medical tourism interpreters across 7 languages, marking a 1.7-fold increase compared to the 59 trained last year—evidence of growing interest in the field among both domestic and international participants.

○ Furthermore, to enhance the capabilities of existing medical coordinators, a training session focused on “AI-based practical skills improvement” is scheduled for September.

<Overview of the 2025 Busan Medical Tourism Interpreter Training Program>

◦ Training Period: May 20 – June 2, 2025 (25 hours)
◦ Method: Combined in-person and online instruction
◦ Completion Requirements: At least 80% attendance and passing of the final test
◦ Curriculum: Basic job training, promotion and marketing, medical terminology by language group

Kim Hyun-jae, Director-General of the Tourism & MICE Bureau of Busan, stated, “We expect this training program to help the graduates grow into professionals on the field.” He added, “The job experience gained through this internship will be highly valuable for serving foreign patients visiting Busan, and the City will continue to focus on cultivating excellent medical interpretation professionals.”