Treatment in South Korea for Canadian Patients: Maple Med Global Now Has a Team in Seoul
Updated: 5 days ago
Ceylan Adiguzel, Founder and CEO of Maple Med Global, hosted the managing director of the company's Seoul-based partner at Maple Med Global's office in First Canadian Place, Toronto, on 24 February 2026. The meeting concluded with the signing of a cooperation protocol between the two companies. Under the agreement, Maple Med Global patients travelling to South Korea for treatment are looked after, from the moment they land at Incheon Airport until they board their flight back to Canada, by a team that lives in Seoul, speaks Korean and is registered and licensed with South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare.
In short
Canadian patients are met at Incheon Airport and accompanied by a Korean-speaking team at every hospital visit, with English interpretation throughout the stay.
The decision, the quote review and the payment process stay in Canada with Maple Med Global; the work on the ground in Seoul is done by the local team.
After the return, reports for every procedure are prepared in English or French so treatment can continue in Canada without interruption.
What makes treatment in South Korea hard for a Canadian patient?
Not the hospital. Seoul's large hospitals have international patient departments and provide an interpreter during the consultation. But a patient's day does not take place in the consultation room. The registration desk, the laboratory, imaging, the pharmacy, the payment counter, the extra test booked for the next morning, the hotel, the taxi, the time of the next appointment: all of it sits outside that room, and all of it runs in Korean. Add a 14-hour flight, a 14-hour time difference and being alone in an unfamiliar city. In a treatment coordinated from Canada by email, the patient fills that gap alone.
Maple Med Global chose to close that gap with its own team in Seoul.
What does the Seoul team do for the patient?
A member of the team meets the patient at the airport and takes them to their hotel by private car. Accommodation is chosen together with the patient, with distance to the hospital and the needs of the recovery period in mind, and the team arranges it. At every hospital visit a team member stays with the patient: translating every conversation from registration to discharge, explaining the forms, passing on the hospital's instructions in English, and handling all transport inside and outside the hospital. Whenever the patient or their companion needs something in Seoul, they have someone to call who lives in the same city. When the treatment schedule allows, the team also arranges a city tour.
The team is Korean. It works in English with the patient and in Korean with the hospital: it speaks to hospitals in their own language and on their own terms, submits the file in the format each hospital asks for, and follows appointments and changes on the patient's behalf.
What does Maple Med Global handle from Canada?
The first conversation with the patient, the search for the specialist and hospital suited to the diagnosis, the review of the treatment plan and the quote together with the patient, and the decision and payment process are all handled from Toronto by Maple Med Global. After the patient returns to Canada, communication with the hospital continues through Maple Med Global. Reports for every procedure performed in Korea are prepared in English or French, so the patient can continue treatment in Canada without interruption and the procedures can be entered into their Canadian health records.
Suitability for treatment and the treatment plan always rest with the hospital's medical team. Neither the Toronto team nor the Seoul team makes clinical decisions.
How is this different from contacting a Korean hospital or agency directly?
Until now, a Canadian patient had two routes to treatment in South Korea: write directly to a hospital's international department, or sign up from Canada with a local company in Korea. On the first route, the patient is on their own the moment they land in Seoul. On the second, the patient has no counterpart in Canada, and checking from Canada whether that company is authorized to receive foreign patients in Korea, and whether it holds a licence and liability insurance, is rarely possible in practice. Nor does anyone take care of carrying the Korean procedures over into the Canadian health system afterwards. With Maple Med Global's Seoul team, both ends sit in the same file: the decision is made in Canada, together with the patient; the work on the ground is done in Seoul, at the patient's side.
South Korea is one of Maple Med Global's 24 destinations. Patients considering South Korea for a full health check-up, orthopedics, oncology or plastic surgery can get in touch with their diagnosis and current reports.
Frequently asked questions
Do Canadians need a visa for medical treatment in South Korea?
No. Canadian passport holders can stay in South Korea for up to 180 days without a visa. Entry details and current requirements are on the Government of Canada's travel page and on Maple Med Global's South Korea destination page.
Can a companion travel with the patient?
Yes. Accommodation is arranged for the patient and companion together, and the Seoul team supports both during hospital visits and in the city.
Maple Med Global is a Toronto-based medical travel coordination company and does not provide medical care. Suitability for treatment and all clinical decisions rest with the medical teams of the hospitals.
Related page: Medical treatment in South Korea
