Korea's medical breakthroughs drawing overseas patients

When Svante Ebbinghaus of Sweden decided to go for another operation for his spinal pains that left him virtually unable to move without assistance, he had to quickly find a doctor. Research led him across the globe to South Korea. "I remember it being so bad that my entire lower body was in excruciating pain," Ebbinghaus, a 73-year-old orthopedic surgeon, recounted. "I had no choice other than to go in for a fourth operation, but my doctor was away at the time so I had to look for alternatives." He researched medical facilities around the world before finally resting his sights on South Korea, where he had read about the country's radical advancement in technology. He discovered Wooridul Spine Hospital and soon began corresponding through email and telephone with a coordinator there.