606,000 medical tourists visited South Korea last year...the largest number ever

According to South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of foreign patients who visited South Korea last year was 606,000, the highest number ever.
This is a 2.4-fold (144.2%) increase from the 248,000 cases reported last year, and is a reflection of the COVID-19 outbreak.
This is 1.2 times higher than the record high of 497,000 visitors in 2019 before the pandemic. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said, "This is the highest number of visitors since we started counting foreign patients in 2009.
It was found that last year, foreign patients from 198 countries visited Korea, and more than half of them received treatment at the dermatology and plastic surgery departments.
The figures for dermatology were 239,000 (35.2%) and for orthopedics were 114,000 (16.8%).