DOCTORS from Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital in Busan, South Korea are again providing healthcare services to CNMI medical referral patients after a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
A year after the CNMI Medical Referral Office and Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital began their partnership in 2017, local patients started traveling to Busan where they received state-of-the-art medical treatment.
Just weeks before Covid-19 became a global pandemic over two years ago, the hospital’s president, Shin Hyeok Kang, vice president Sharky Kang and international healthcare director HyunBong “Shon” Park visited Saipan to meet with medical referral patients.
The patients were also given the opportunity to be seen by their doctors in South Korea via video call.
On April 21, 2022, Kang and Park were back on island to see the patients who were also able to talk with their South Korean doctors via video call. The aftercare meeting was held in the Hyatt Regency Saipan’s Chamolinian Room at 4:30 p.m.
Kang said Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital specializes in joints, spine and other diseases that may require orthopedic surgery. They provide healthcare services that use world-class medical technology, he added.
One of their newest local patients, Marianas Visitors Authority board member Marian Aldan-Pierce, said she underwent a successful knee surgery at Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital, and is now enjoying her life again.
But Aldan-Pierce is not a CNMI medical referral patient. She availed herself of Kang Dong’s services through her own healthcare provider.
She was at the Hyatt on April 21, 2022 for a follow up check with her doctor via video call.
Also present on that day were local medical referral patients who were seen by their doctors online.
“Kang Dong Hospital has successfully performed many surgeries on CNMI patients over the years without any single incident,” Kang said. “And we also visit Saipan to take care of our patients through aftercare events.”
Concerned patients
The medical referral patients also had an opportunity to discuss with Kang and Park the recent transfer of the medical referral office from the Office of the Governor to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.
They wanted to know if the medical referral contract with Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital would continue.
Asked for comment, CHCC said, “We would get back to you as soon as possible.”
Marianas Visitors Authority board member Marian Aldan-Pierce, left, smiles as she waits for her turn to be seen by a doctor from Kang Dong Orthopedic Hospital in Busan, South Korea, via video call, in the Chamolinian Room of at Hyatt Regency Saipan on April 21, 2022.
