Korea’s disease-related skills are at 80% of US, showing gap of 2.2 years < Hospital < Article

Korea’s healthcare industry skills are 80.3 percent in the disease area and 79.1 percent in industries compared to the United States, which boasts the highest skills.

By disease, Korea’s level of technology was relatively high for circulatory system diseases but low for mental and behavioral disorders.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Healthcare Industry Development Institute announced the results of the “2024 Healthcare Industry Skill Level Assessment,” conducted through two Delphi surveys of 605 technical experts in the healthcare and industrial sectors.

The ministry has evaluated the relative technology level (in percentage) and technology gap (years) of five major countries — Korea, China, Japan, Europe, and the U.S. — to utilize basic data for policy formulation and R&D project planning through diagnosing the level of major core technologies in the healthcare industry.

In 2024, the level and gap were analyzed for 82 technologies—44 technologies in disease areas and 38 technologies in industrial areas.

Last year, Korea’s level of technology in the disease field was 80.3 percent of that of the U.S., the top technology holder, with a technology gap of 2.2 years. The Korean industrial sector’s level was 79.1 percent, showing a gap of 2.5 years.

Compared to 2022, the gap increased by 0.2 percentage points from 80.1 percent to 80.3 percent for diseases and by 0.2 percentage points from 78.9 percent to 79.1 percent for industries.

When the 44 technologies in the disease area are grouped into 15 broad categories, circulatory diseases and overcoming low birth rates are relatively high, while rare diseases and mental and behavioral disorders are relatively low.

When dividing the 38 technologies in the industry sector into eight major categories, the level of diagnostic treatment development and digital health technologies in Korean medicine was relatively high. The level of biomarker discovery and regenerative medicine technologies was relatively low.

“Through the relative evaluation of the technology level of the healthcare industry with major countries, we will diagnose Korea’s current position and development speed, and based on this, establish policies and investment plans for R&D projects tailored to individual technology levels,” said Jeong Eun-young, director-general of the Health Industry Policy Bureau.