High Medical Care Quality in Korea

The five-year net survival rates of South Korean colon and gastric cancer patients are the highest in the OECD.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on Nov. 17 that the five-year net survival rates of South Korean colon, rectal and gastric cancer patients were 71.8 percent, 71.1 percent and 68.9 percent in 2017, respectively. The rates of the colon and gastric cancer patients were the highest in the OECD and the five-year net survival rates of South Korean lung cancer and acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients, 25.1 percent and 84.4 percent, were higher than the OECD averages of 17.2 percent and 83.7 percent, respectively.

The 30-day fatality rate of South Korean ischemic stroke patients has decreased since 2008. Specifically, it reached 3.2 percent in 2017, when the OECD average was 7.7 percent. The 30-day fatality rate of South Korean acute myocardial infarction patients fell to 9.6 percent in 2017 although higher than the OECD average of 6.9 percent.

In 2017, the rates of hospitalization attributable to asthma and diabetes were 81 and 245.2 per 100,000 population in South Korea, respectively. The OECD averages during the same period are 41.9 and 129.


That year, South Korea posted a polypharmacy prescription of 68.1 percent, the highest among seven OECD member countries that submitted related statistical data. South Korean outpatients’ antibiotics prescriptions were 26.5 DDD and it showed a downtrend although higher than the OECD average of 18.8 DDD.

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