DOCTORS from Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital in Busan, South Korea are back on island to provide after-care services to CNMI patients.
It’s the second time they’ve visited Saipan to meet their patients for a follow-up checkup, said the hospital’s vice president, Dr. Sharky Kang, who arrived Tuesday with the hospital’s international healthcare director, Dr. Hyun Bong “Shon” Park. They were here in April last year to provide after-care services to their patients.
Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital began its partnership with the CNMI Medical Referral Services Program in 2017 when it was administered by the Office of the Governor.
Re-named “Health Network Program,” it is now under the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.
Kang said 80 to 90 CNMI medical referral patients went to South Korea where they received state-of-the-art medical treatment. Most of the cases involved problems with knees, spines and shoulders.
In 2020, Kang, the hospital’s president, Shin Hyeok Kang, and Park came to Saipan to facilitate online after-care services for CNMI patients who were seen by their doctors from South Korea via video call. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, they were not able to return to the island until last year.
On Tuesday, Kang and Park met with one of their patients for a follow up checkup of his left knee. Kang said they were told that most of their other local patients were off-island. Because only one patient came for a follow-up checkup, Kang and Park hope that this means the treatment they provided to the others was successful.
Kang said since the beginning of their partnership with the CNMI government, they have been fulfilling their promise to continue providing after-care services to their local patients.
Kang and Park were set to meet with Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang to personally renew the Korean doctors’ commitment to their CNMI patients and willingness to serve island residents.
Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital Vice President Sharky Kang, left, and International Healthcare Director Hyun Bong “Shon” Park pose for a photo after seeing one of their patients in Garapan on Tuesday.
