Asan Medical Center celebrates decade of sharing 'K-medicine' with Middle East
Published: 20 Nov. 2025, 18:01
![Prof. Hwang Dae-wook, left, teaches Mohammed Al Otaibi, a hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon from Saudi Arabia, right, how to perform a pancreatectomy at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul on Nov. 12. [ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/11/20/7bd7cb78-2211-406f-b5f6-5ea01affda7d.jpg)
Prof. Hwang Dae-wook, left, teaches Mohammed Al Otaibi, a hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon from Saudi Arabia, right, how to perform a pancreatectomy at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul on Nov. 12. [ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]
Mohammed Al Otaibi, a hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgeon (HBP) from Saudi Arabia, has been training at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul since January last year. He is currently learning advanced surgical techniques, such as liver transplants via small grafts, robotic surgery for pancreatic and liver cancers and resectioning the portal vein and superior mesenteric vein to treat advanced pancreatic cancer.
“I hope to introduce robotic surgery for HBP diseases and expand living donor liver transplants in Saudi Arabia based on the experience I’ve gained at the Asan Medical Center, which is one of the best hospitals in the world,” he said.
On Thursday, the hospital shared its accomplishments over the past decade in delivering Korean medical expertise — or “K-medicine” — to the Middle East, having treated some 35,000 patients from the region while training around 600 medical professionals, including Al Otaibi.
According to the hospital, it has maintained active partnerships with governments and medical institutions in the Middle East since 2014. Between then and September of this year, 478 physicians from Saudi Arabia, 50 from Oman, 31 from Kuwait, 30 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), eight from Qatar and two from Bahrain trained at the Asan Medical Center.
The visiting physicians mostly focused on techniques difficult to acquire in their home countries, such as organ transplants, microsurgical reconstruction, robotic surgery for liver and pancreatic cancers and fetal endoscopic surgery.
The hospital also signed a training agreement in 2014 with King Saud University, one of the most prestigious universities in Saudi Arabia, to further expand its global educational network. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 150 students from the university’s medical school completed clinical rotations at Asan. The program will resume next year, with about 30 students visiting annually to observe patient care and surgeries under Korea’s advanced medical system.
Top Korean surgeons have also traveled to the Middle East to share their expertise. In 2016, Prof. Lee Sung-gyu, a distinguished professor of liver transplantation and HBP surgery, performed Qatar’s first adult living donor liver transplant, transferring the knowledge directly to local medical staff. In 2023, endocrine surgeons Jung Kee-wook and Sung Tae-yon demonstrated high-level procedures in Kuwait, including laparoscopic retroperitoneal adrenalectomy and transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy.
![Medical staff are trained on treatment strategies for cerebral aneurysms using angiographic imaging at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul on Nov. 19. [ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/11/20/bad83e24-f9b6-4943-8f74-2f3a876f28b3.jpg)
Medical staff are trained on treatment strategies for cerebral aneurysms using angiographic imaging at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul on Nov. 19. [ASAN MEDICAL CENTER]
“The hospital not only trains medical professionals from the Middle East but also accepts and treats patients with serious conditions that cannot be managed in their home country,” said a hospital representative.
Over the past decade, the Asan Medical Center had 22,445 patients from the UAE, 9,440 from Saudi Arabia, 1,551 from Kuwait, 889 from Qatar, 739 from Oman and 81 from Bahrain. Most of the cases involved cancer, heart disease or organ transplants requiring highly complex procedures.
The hospital also plans to export its healthcare model by opening the first integrated gastroenterology hospital in the Middle East. The UAE Asan Digestive Disease Hospital — its tentative name — began construction in July of last year and is scheduled to open next year. It will provide digestive cancer treatment, liver transplant care and bariatric surgery.
“As a global hospital, we will continue sharing Korea's advanced medical skills and systems with the Middle East and beyond to elevate our international stature,” said Park Seung-il, the president of the Asan Medical Center.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY RHEE ESTHER [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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