January 14, 2025 • 15 mins
A record 600,000 people traveled to South Korea for medical procedures in 2023, with roughly half of those visiting dermatology and plastic surgery clinics.
On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg's Oanh Ha about the rise of the medical tourism industry, and how it’s colliding with a shrinking supply of doctors and a struggling medical system.
Further listening: Netflix’s Big Bet On ‘Squid Game’
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. Good morning, it's the
big day. I'm heading out to Korea today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That's Julie Miller, a forty six year old stay at
home mum from New Jersey. She's on her way to
the airport to fly to South Korea.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
As I'm sitting here, I am noticing all my neck issues,
so I'm very, very excited for these treatments.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Those treatments, botox shots and skin tightening are the reason
Julie's flying to Soul. It's a trip that will take
her about a day, and the final bill for those
treatments isn't cheap, about three thousand dollars, but it's almost
half the cost of doing it back home, and Julie
says they're worth the distance and every penny.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
The biggest draw was people were very satisfied with their results,
and that combined with a better price than we have
in the US, it's like a no brainer.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Julie is among hundreds of thousands of tourists who travel
from all over the world to South Korea every year
for beauty treatments. Bloomberg senior reporter and Big Take Asia
host One h has been reporting on the rise of
medical tourism in the country.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
South Korea's medical tourism business hit a record high of
six hundred thousand people in twenty twenty three, and they're
on track to get even higher. A third of the
tourists came in for cosmetic procedures in twenty twenty three,
and another twenty percent came into Korea for plastic surgery
right now, plasty facelifts, all that fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's a growing industry for South Korea's economy, and the
government wants to turn the country into a medical tourism
herber in Asia. But as the beauty market thrives, the
country's medical system faces other challenges.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
All South Korea has been long suffering from this doctor shortage,
especially in emergency rooms and critical care, and at the
beginning of twenty twenty four, we saw these resident doctors
strike to protest low wages and these long working hours.
This has now been going on for almost a year.
At the same time, you've got this spectacular rise of
(02:20):
the medical tourism industry, You've got a rise in doctors
going into the more lucrative fields like plastic surgery, cosmetic centers, dermatology,
and all of these things are booming against this backdrop
where you've got people dying, people being refused from hospitals
because there's a shortage of doctors.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Welcome to The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm
Rebecca Chung Wilkins. Every week we take you inside some
of the world's biggest and most powerful economies and the markets,
tycoons and businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today
on the show, the rise of medical tourism in South
Korea and how it's colliding with a shrinking supply of
(03:06):
doctors and a struggling medical system.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
One.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Hello, hey there, how's it going.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Welcome.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's kind of funny treating seeds, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I know, so you usually sit on this end of
the microphone, and finally I can put you in the
hot seats. I'm going to try and spook you as much.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
As possible as Farry.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Bloomberg's one hat is usually the host of The Big
Take Asia, but this week she's in the hot seat
to talk about her reporting on South Korea's medical tourism industry.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Medical tourism is this broad catch all that the government uses,
and it runs the gamut from people coming in for
health checkups, to cancer treatment, even to laser surgery. But
for most medical tourists, it's really about plastic surgery and skincare.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Along with the rise of K pop, k beauty is
enjoying a spectacular boom.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Everything about South Korean culture is so cool and hip
these days. I mean the fact that you know, Squid
Games is on television, Black Pinks Rosy per song apt
is like the global hit right now, playing on radios
and streaming everywhere. And so of course this whole K
pop culture is really feeding into this beauty esthetic. Looking young,
(04:20):
looking good, having dewy glass skin that really is a standard,
not just for Koreans, but I think for a lot
of young people all around the world.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Medical tourism isn't new. For years, people have been traveling
to places like Thailand and Brazil for treatments, but South
Korea is now seen as a rising destination for medical
and cosmetic care, where people seek out some of the
most affordable and advanced procedures to transform their bodies. It's
a highly competitive industry and one the Korean government has
(04:52):
been formally promoting since two thousand and nine.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The Korean government really wants to establish Korea as a
medical tourism hub. The lawmakers in twenty sixteen past this
law to support and help grow the medical tourism industry.
And it's got a whole system to basically license companies
that help to bring in these foreign patients to the clinics.
It gives subsidies to the companies and to the industry.
There's this government unit under the Health to Ministry that holds,
(05:19):
you know, medical tourism shows around the world, and they
offer medical tourism visas.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
And you recently went to South Korea for one of
these treatments. Maybe that's why you're looking particularly glowing in
twenty thirty five five.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, you know, as you say, while in Korea, do
as the Koreans do. I mean, it's hard to be
in Korea and not feel like, geez, there's something wrong
with me. And I figured, since I'm writing about this,
I figure I should just do it myself and experience
for myself what that was like.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And what did your doctor tell you in your consultation?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Oh that was funny.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
My name is Juan yep So. I actually went to
two consultations. The very first one was for the facial
treatment that I got. I also went to go see
a plastic surgeon and asked him what would you do
to improve upon this? Here's here's what he said.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
And you notice it's a really cookie and your TV
serve ved if Bob was here. Our foreheads are really flat,
so I recommend the fatcraft to hear. Your chin is
a really small and retracted, so we will recommend the
chin implant war shin advancement.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
So essentially basically said, you shouldn't be walking out like
you do every day. You really should be wearing a mask.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
One eventually got a micro needling an ultrasound therapy to
help lift and tighten her skin, and she says she
did feel like she was glowing afterwards and would do
it again. She got her treatments in Gangna. Yes, that's
it's the same Gangnam that's featured in the song Gangnam Style.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Gangnam is a district in Soul and the name literally
translates to south of the Han River, and it's known
as South Korea's Beverly Hills actually because a lot of
the wealthy residents and you've got these celebrities who live
there as well, So both a residential area but also
a very vibrant business district. I went on a tour
and entered about five of these high rises, and every
(07:25):
single one was filled with literally dozens and dozens and
dozens of plastic surgery, cosmetic centers, skin care clinics.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Based on data from the International Society of Esthetic Plastic Surgery,
the number of Korean cosmetic surgeons in private practice has
nearly doubled in the past decade to more than twenty
seven hundred, the highest concentration per capita globally. But South
Korea also has one of the lowest ratios of doctors
(07:54):
to population in the developed world, meaning there's not enough
doctors to care for people in need of medical attention.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
The doctors, they've been on strike for almost a year,
some of them have resigned. There's a local media report
that said the number of er doctors fell more than
forty percent nationwide last year.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
After the break. Where South Korea's medical tourism boom and
its doctor shortage collides. South Korea has seen a boom
in medical tourism in recent years, with hundreds of thousands
(08:37):
of people coming from around the world to get popular
cosmetic treatments, but tensions are escalating alongside that growth. For years,
South Korea has been plagued by a shortage of doctors,
especially in critical fields, and young doctors in particular have
been complaining about their low wages and harsh working conditions.
(08:59):
Blueberg to oneh met one of these doctors.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
She's obgyn, an obstetrician gynecologist in her thirties, and she
basically said, listen, life as a resident is awful, right.
You don't make a lot of money to begin with,
but you're working these crazy work weeks. She was saying
that she had worked eighty hour weeks.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And in February last year, to address the shortfall of
medical staff, the government proposed increasing the quota for medical students.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
They proposed to increase medical school admissions by two thirds
to about five thousand a year. You think that would
be a good thing, right, getting more doctors into the pipeline,
But in fact, the doctors were all up in arms
about it.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And why are they upset about the government increasing admissions
for medical students.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
The doctors are saying that, hey, just adding more doctors
into the mix isn't going to solve the structural problems
that's really underpinning the shortage and it comes down to
what they say, or at least two critical issue shoes. One.
Korea's got this great national health insurance system. It serves
fifty two million citizens. It's one of the best healthcare systems.
(10:08):
But Koreans love to see their doctors, and they're seeing
their doctors way more than in other developed countries. So
these doctors are super super busy.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
That's in part because healthcare is really accessible and affordable
in South Korea. Koreans can visit any medical institution, public
or private, and only need to pay a fraction of
the cost. The government then reimburses the hospitals and clinics
for the treatment. But hospitals say the reimbursement from the
(10:39):
government is too low.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So low in fact, that a lot of these hospitals
are barely financially stable and they're relying on this very
heavy and high turnover to stay in business. And of
course that puts a lot of burden back on the doctors,
especially these poor young residents who are working crazy eighty
work week hours.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
In February twenty two, twenty four, nearly thirteen thousand doctors,
mostly residents and trainees, went on strike around the country.
Some of them have resigned altogether. The strike has been
going on for almost a year. The guynecologist she also
joined the walkout with her colleagues and has since quit
(11:19):
her job at the hospital. She's now working as a
dermatologist at a skincare clinic and soul. She said she's
happy with that choice now that she can spend more
time with her baby.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
There are just these fundamental structural problems that the government
still isn't addressing, and so you do have doctors leaving
critical medical specialties and entering fields that aren't dependent on
the healthcare reimbursement system, like dermatology, like plastic surgery.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
For things like cosmetic procedures or plastic surgery, such treatments
aren't covered by national insurance, so doctors working in these
specialties are able to charge and earn a lot more.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
The doctors say, as long as you have this current
national health insurance system in place with super low reimbursements,
you're always going to have a shortage of doctors because
nobody's going to want to stay in these critical care
specialties that don't pay a whole lot when they can see, oh,
they're fellow dermatologists making twice as much as they are.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Even more, the impasse has led to a disruption of
essential medical services at hospitals. Major hospitals have had to
cut back on surgeries and emergency room operation hours. In
some cases, the shortage has had deadly consequences. A report
from Dunguok University said some thirty seven hundred patients have
(12:39):
died since twenty seventeen because local hospitals didn't have enough
doctors to treat patients and refused to provide care. After
the walkout, the Health Ministry began deploying military doctors to
hospital emergency rooms to deal with the ongoing staff shortage
and in the long run, the government told Bloomberg, GET
(13:01):
pledged to spend about twenty billion dollars to complete medical
reform and is continuing to monitor the situation. There's another
consequence to all of this. It's impossible to ignore, and
you can see it on the faces of people you
pass on the street in Korea and beyond.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
It's hard because in Korea when you walk around, everybody
is put together right, And can you imagine if you
don't subscribe to that kind of esthetic, If that's not
you right, I mean, how out of place you feel
and when there are places that are offering six dollars
botox shots, how can you refuse? And so I think
there is such an immense pressure for people to stay young,
(13:39):
to look young, to stay good, and I think it's
really hard for people who perhaps don't subscribe to that
kind of aesthetic and value.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
One checked in with Julie, the women from New Jersey
that we heard earlier a month and a half after
her procedures.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
So how are you doing? You said, a lot of
people were noticing made some nice comments about your face
and skins.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Well, yeah they did. They said that I'm aging backwards.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, how do you feel about it?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I don't know that I noticed much until a couple
of weeks. And then a couple of weeks later, at
some point I looked in the mirror and I was like, Oh,
my skin is looking really good.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Are you thinking about making another trip anytime soon?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I would actually do it, like in a year.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah. Are you thinking next time you'll come back with
a friend, or you'll come back by yourself, or what
are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
My sister in law seems really interested, So maybe.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
This is the big take. Asia from Bloomberg News I'm
Rebecca Cheung Wilkins. This episode was produced by Young Young,
Naomi Ung, and Jessica Beck. It was mixed by Alex Sagura,
sound designed by Jessica, and fact check by Naomi. It
was edited by Aaron Edwards and David Rocks. There was
additional reporting Guy Sella. Naomi Shavin is our senior producer,
(15:03):
Elizabeth Ponso is our senior editor, Nicole Beemsterbor is our
executive producer, and Stage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts.
Please follow and review The Big Take Asia wherever you
listen to podcasts. It really helps new listeners find the show.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
See you next time.
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. Good morning, it's the
big day. I'm heading out to Korea today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That's Julie Miller, a forty six year old stay at
home mum from New Jersey. She's on her way to
the airport to fly to South Korea.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
As I'm sitting here, I am noticing all my neck issues,
so I'm very, very excited for these treatments.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Those treatments, botox shots and skin tightening are the reason
Julie's flying to Soul. It's a trip that will take
her about a day, and the final bill for those
treatments isn't cheap, about three thousand dollars, but it's almost
half the cost of doing it back home, and Julie
says they're worth the distance and every penny.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
The biggest draw was people were very satisfied with their results,
and that combined with a better price than we have
in the US, it's like a no brainer.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Julie is among hundreds of thousands of tourists who travel
from all over the world to South Korea every year
for beauty treatments. Bloomberg senior reporter and Big Take Asia
host One h has been reporting on the rise of
medical tourism in the country.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
South Korea's medical tourism business hit a record high of
six hundred thousand people in twenty twenty three, and they're
on track to get even higher. A third of the
tourists came in for cosmetic procedures in twenty twenty three,
and another twenty percent came into Korea for plastic surgery
right now, plasty facelifts, all that fun stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's a growing industry for South Korea's economy, and the
government wants to turn the country into a medical tourism
herber in Asia. But as the beauty market thrives, the
country's medical system faces other challenges.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
All South Korea has been long suffering from this doctor shortage,
especially in emergency rooms and critical care, and at the
beginning of twenty twenty four, we saw these resident doctors
strike to protest low wages and these long working hours.
This has now been going on for almost a year.
At the same time, you've got this spectacular rise of
(02:20):
the medical tourism industry, You've got a rise in doctors
going into the more lucrative fields like plastic surgery, cosmetic centers, dermatology,
and all of these things are booming against this backdrop
where you've got people dying, people being refused from hospitals
because there's a shortage of doctors.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Welcome to The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm
Rebecca Chung Wilkins. Every week we take you inside some
of the world's biggest and most powerful economies and the markets,
tycoons and businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today
on the show, the rise of medical tourism in South
Korea and how it's colliding with a shrinking supply of
(03:06):
doctors and a struggling medical system.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
One.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Hello, hey there, how's it going.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
Welcome.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
It's kind of funny treating seeds, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I know, so you usually sit on this end of
the microphone, and finally I can put you in the
hot seats. I'm going to try and spook you as much.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
As possible as Farry.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Bloomberg's one hat is usually the host of The Big
Take Asia, but this week she's in the hot seat
to talk about her reporting on South Korea's medical tourism industry.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Medical tourism is this broad catch all that the government uses,
and it runs the gamut from people coming in for
health checkups, to cancer treatment, even to laser surgery. But
for most medical tourists, it's really about plastic surgery and skincare.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Along with the rise of K pop, k beauty is
enjoying a spectacular boom.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Everything about South Korean culture is so cool and hip
these days. I mean the fact that you know, Squid
Games is on television, Black Pinks Rosy per song apt
is like the global hit right now, playing on radios
and streaming everywhere. And so of course this whole K
pop culture is really feeding into this beauty esthetic. Looking young,
(04:20):
looking good, having dewy glass skin that really is a standard,
not just for Koreans, but I think for a lot
of young people all around the world.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Medical tourism isn't new. For years, people have been traveling
to places like Thailand and Brazil for treatments, but South
Korea is now seen as a rising destination for medical
and cosmetic care, where people seek out some of the
most affordable and advanced procedures to transform their bodies. It's
a highly competitive industry and one the Korean government has
(04:52):
been formally promoting since two thousand and nine.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The Korean government really wants to establish Korea as a
medical tourism hub. The lawmakers in twenty sixteen past this
law to support and help grow the medical tourism industry.
And it's got a whole system to basically license companies
that help to bring in these foreign patients to the clinics.
It gives subsidies to the companies and to the industry.
There's this government unit under the Health to Ministry that holds,
(05:19):
you know, medical tourism shows around the world, and they
offer medical tourism visas.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
And you recently went to South Korea for one of
these treatments. Maybe that's why you're looking particularly glowing in
twenty thirty five five.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Well, you know, as you say, while in Korea, do
as the Koreans do. I mean, it's hard to be
in Korea and not feel like, geez, there's something wrong
with me. And I figured, since I'm writing about this,
I figure I should just do it myself and experience
for myself what that was like.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And what did your doctor tell you in your consultation?
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Oh that was funny.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
My name is Juan yep So. I actually went to
two consultations. The very first one was for the facial
treatment that I got. I also went to go see
a plastic surgeon and asked him what would you do
to improve upon this? Here's here's what he said.
Speaker 5 (06:13):
And you notice it's a really cookie and your TV
serve ved if Bob was here. Our foreheads are really flat,
so I recommend the fatcraft to hear. Your chin is
a really small and retracted, so we will recommend the
chin implant war shin advancement.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
So essentially basically said, you shouldn't be walking out like
you do every day. You really should be wearing a mask.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
One eventually got a micro needling an ultrasound therapy to
help lift and tighten her skin, and she says she
did feel like she was glowing afterwards and would do
it again. She got her treatments in Gangna. Yes, that's
it's the same Gangnam that's featured in the song Gangnam Style.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Gangnam is a district in Soul and the name literally
translates to south of the Han River, and it's known
as South Korea's Beverly Hills actually because a lot of
the wealthy residents and you've got these celebrities who live
there as well, So both a residential area but also
a very vibrant business district. I went on a tour
and entered about five of these high rises, and every
(07:25):
single one was filled with literally dozens and dozens and
dozens of plastic surgery, cosmetic centers, skin care clinics.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Based on data from the International Society of Esthetic Plastic Surgery,
the number of Korean cosmetic surgeons in private practice has
nearly doubled in the past decade to more than twenty
seven hundred, the highest concentration per capita globally. But South
Korea also has one of the lowest ratios of doctors
(07:54):
to population in the developed world, meaning there's not enough
doctors to care for people in need of medical attention.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
The doctors, they've been on strike for almost a year,
some of them have resigned. There's a local media report
that said the number of er doctors fell more than
forty percent nationwide last year.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
After the break. Where South Korea's medical tourism boom and
its doctor shortage collides. South Korea has seen a boom
in medical tourism in recent years, with hundreds of thousands
(08:37):
of people coming from around the world to get popular
cosmetic treatments, but tensions are escalating alongside that growth. For years,
South Korea has been plagued by a shortage of doctors,
especially in critical fields, and young doctors in particular have
been complaining about their low wages and harsh working conditions.
(08:59):
Blueberg to oneh met one of these doctors.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
She's obgyn, an obstetrician gynecologist in her thirties, and she
basically said, listen, life as a resident is awful, right.
You don't make a lot of money to begin with,
but you're working these crazy work weeks. She was saying
that she had worked eighty hour weeks.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And in February last year, to address the shortfall of
medical staff, the government proposed increasing the quota for medical students.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
They proposed to increase medical school admissions by two thirds
to about five thousand a year. You think that would
be a good thing, right, getting more doctors into the pipeline,
But in fact, the doctors were all up in arms
about it.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And why are they upset about the government increasing admissions
for medical students.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
The doctors are saying that, hey, just adding more doctors
into the mix isn't going to solve the structural problems
that's really underpinning the shortage and it comes down to
what they say, or at least two critical issue shoes. One.
Korea's got this great national health insurance system. It serves
fifty two million citizens. It's one of the best healthcare systems.
(10:08):
But Koreans love to see their doctors, and they're seeing
their doctors way more than in other developed countries. So
these doctors are super super busy.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
That's in part because healthcare is really accessible and affordable
in South Korea. Koreans can visit any medical institution, public
or private, and only need to pay a fraction of
the cost. The government then reimburses the hospitals and clinics
for the treatment. But hospitals say the reimbursement from the
(10:39):
government is too low.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
So low in fact, that a lot of these hospitals
are barely financially stable and they're relying on this very
heavy and high turnover to stay in business. And of
course that puts a lot of burden back on the doctors,
especially these poor young residents who are working crazy eighty
work week hours.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
In February twenty two, twenty four, nearly thirteen thousand doctors,
mostly residents and trainees, went on strike around the country.
Some of them have resigned altogether. The strike has been
going on for almost a year. The guynecologist she also
joined the walkout with her colleagues and has since quit
(11:19):
her job at the hospital. She's now working as a
dermatologist at a skincare clinic and soul. She said she's
happy with that choice now that she can spend more
time with her baby.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
There are just these fundamental structural problems that the government
still isn't addressing, and so you do have doctors leaving
critical medical specialties and entering fields that aren't dependent on
the healthcare reimbursement system, like dermatology, like plastic surgery.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
For things like cosmetic procedures or plastic surgery, such treatments
aren't covered by national insurance, so doctors working in these
specialties are able to charge and earn a lot more.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
The doctors say, as long as you have this current
national health insurance system in place with super low reimbursements,
you're always going to have a shortage of doctors because
nobody's going to want to stay in these critical care
specialties that don't pay a whole lot when they can see, oh,
they're fellow dermatologists making twice as much as they are.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Even more, the impasse has led to a disruption of
essential medical services at hospitals. Major hospitals have had to
cut back on surgeries and emergency room operation hours. In
some cases, the shortage has had deadly consequences. A report
from Dunguok University said some thirty seven hundred patients have
(12:39):
died since twenty seventeen because local hospitals didn't have enough
doctors to treat patients and refused to provide care. After
the walkout, the Health Ministry began deploying military doctors to
hospital emergency rooms to deal with the ongoing staff shortage
and in the long run, the government told Bloomberg, GET
(13:01):
pledged to spend about twenty billion dollars to complete medical
reform and is continuing to monitor the situation. There's another
consequence to all of this. It's impossible to ignore, and
you can see it on the faces of people you
pass on the street in Korea and beyond.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
It's hard because in Korea when you walk around, everybody
is put together right, And can you imagine if you
don't subscribe to that kind of esthetic, If that's not
you right, I mean, how out of place you feel
and when there are places that are offering six dollars
botox shots, how can you refuse? And so I think
there is such an immense pressure for people to stay young,
(13:39):
to look young, to stay good, and I think it's
really hard for people who perhaps don't subscribe to that
kind of aesthetic and value.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
One checked in with Julie, the women from New Jersey
that we heard earlier a month and a half after
her procedures.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
So how are you doing? You said, a lot of
people were noticing made some nice comments about your face
and skins.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Well, yeah they did. They said that I'm aging backwards.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, how do you feel about it?
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I don't know that I noticed much until a couple
of weeks. And then a couple of weeks later, at
some point I looked in the mirror and I was like, Oh,
my skin is looking really good.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Are you thinking about making another trip anytime soon?
Speaker 1 (14:21):
I would actually do it, like in a year.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Yeah. Are you thinking next time you'll come back with
a friend, or you'll come back by yourself, or what
are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
My sister in law seems really interested, So maybe.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
This is the big take. Asia from Bloomberg News I'm
Rebecca Cheung Wilkins. This episode was produced by Young Young,
Naomi Ung, and Jessica Beck. It was mixed by Alex Sagura,
sound designed by Jessica, and fact check by Naomi. It
was edited by Aaron Edwards and David Rocks. There was
additional reporting Guy Sella. Naomi Shavin is our senior producer,
(15:03):
Elizabeth Ponso is our senior editor, Nicole Beemsterbor is our
executive producer, and Stage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts.
Please follow and review The Big Take Asia wherever you
listen to podcasts. It really helps new listeners find the show.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
See you next time.
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