Gacheon University Gil Medical Center said Thursday that it would start its medical education system export in earnest, beginning with establishing the AKFA Medline Hospital’s College of Medicine in Uzbekistan this month.

A model of the new AKFA Medline Hospital’s College of Medicine in Uzbekistan

The contract is the first one under which a local hospital exports its medical education platform to another country.

Uzbekistan has recently paid much attention to Korea’s health and welfare system and appointed a former official of Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare as the vice minister of its government’s health agency.

The hospital sent its employees to Uzbekistan on April 1 to coordinate on the establishment of the school. They will stay in the country for a month and discuss construction, entrance examination, professor selection, curriculum, and schedule. Also, the hospital will send a professor from Gachon University School to work as a dean and help establish the school.

Gacheon University Gil Medical Center will cooperate with the Gachon University College of Medicine regarding the school’s medical education programs and medical staff training

The medical school will be the first private medical school in Uzbekistan scheduled to open on Sep. 1, 2019, and enroll 200 students per grade.

Under the contract, Gachon Medical University will receive $2 million for transferring its medical education program.

Gacheon University Gil Medical Center and Gachon University College of Medicine has had interactions with the Uzbekistan authorities since 2014. The cooperation led to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Gacheon University Gil Medical Center signing a memorandum of understanding on Nov. 21, 2017.

AKFA Medline Hospital is a 165-bed, 12-story private hospital that opened in 2017 and has outpatient clinics, radiotherapy, cinema hall, and spa. The hospital is preparing to expand to more than 500 beds with the opening of the medical school.

“This project is significant as it has created a way to contribute both to the national interest and service to humanity by transferring our excellent medical system and education system abroad,” Gacheon University Gil Medical Center Director Yang Woo Kim said. “We will do our best to educate excellent medical talents.”

Copyright © KBR Unauthorized reproduction, redistribution prohibited