KT Enters Vietnam's Non-Face-to-Face Healthcare Market... Targeting Remote Care and Screening

KT is launching a non-face-to-face healthcare business in Vietnam. It aims to lead healthcare digital transformation (DX) through health management for cancer surgery patients and diabetes patients, as well as a Korean-style comprehensive health screening center.

On the 14th, KT announced that it will conduct a pilot non-face-to-face care service for cancer and chronic disease patients using a remote care platform, centered on KT Healthcare Vina, a Vietnamese medical corporation established earlier this year.

Im Seung-hyuk, Head of KT Healthcare Business Group (Senior Executive Vice President), is presenting the healthcare DX business strategy.
[Photo by KT]

KT will pilot two services in cooperation with local hospitals in Vietnam: post-discharge management for gastric cancer surgery patients and health habit management for chronic disease patients focusing on diabetes. KT’s non-face-to-face care service provides ▲app-based self-management ▲one-on-one professional counseling by care coordinators ▲customized services by disease (AI diagnosis, nutritional meals, etc.). The app used for the service, ‘Doctor Around,’ was jointly developed by KT, Mediplus Solution, and Huray Positive. High-risk users of major diseases use the app to prevent and improve diseases by promoting healthy habit management.

KT is conducting a pilot project with the Vietnam National Cancer Center (K-Hospital) targeting 100 gastric cancer surgery patients. The remote care service for cancer patients manages post-surgery sequelae and chemotherapy side effects through care coordinators’ care calls. It also provides dietary coaching and foods tailored for gastric cancer patients to support intensive dietary management.

KT is also piloting a remote care service for chronic diseases targeting 240 diabetes patients at Hanoi Medical University Hospital. The chronic disease remote care service establishes and achieves lifestyle habit goals such as blood sugar measurement, diet, exercise, and medication, which are key to diabetes management. It helps patients manage diabetes independently. Care coordinators monitor patient conditions and provide feedback, offering coaching functions. KT plans to integrate AI-based diabetes screening technology into the chronic disease care service. The AI screening technology identifies high-risk diabetes groups through a simple app-based questionnaire. Since diabetes is a disease that can be managed in daily life through early diagnosis, this technology is expected to aid early detection and management.

Overview of KT Vietnam Healthcare Business
Photo by KT

It may seem unusual for a telecommunications company like KT to operate a healthcare business in Vietnam. Seunghyuk Lim, Head of KT Healthcare Business Group (Senior Executive Director), said, "KT does more than just telecommunications. Although most attempts failed, we have extensive past experience in healthcare business. We can leverage that experience to gain competitiveness." He added, "By providing services such as diabetes and cancer management, we can obtain important data. In the future, AI and big data capabilities will be crucial in the medical field as well." He also said, "We have formed close relationships with the Vietnamese medical network, established bases, and understand regulations, giving us competitiveness in the Vietnamese market." Vietnam is pursuing relatively open policies on digital healthcare and has high economic growth potential. Based on this, KT has been pushing to enter the Vietnamese healthcare market since last year, focusing on the potential expansion of the medical market.

KT is also planning to establish a Korean-style premium comprehensive health screening center in Vietnam. It will apply Korea’s systematic health screening system and showcase medical AI technologies such as AI-based health screening recommendations. Additionally, it plans to support post-management services for chronic disease and cancer patients based on screening results, linked with non-face-to-face care services. For this, KT is continuously cooperating with Hanaro Medical Foundation.

Lim said, "There are three main reasons for engaging in the health screening business: to generate profits, secure data, and build recognition in the healthcare field." He is confident about profitability. Lim stated, "Hanoi’s population is about 9 million, with 10% being high-income earners and about 100,000 Korean residents. We are targeting 1 million people." He added, "If the center operates 300 days a year, it can accommodate about 30,000 people. The first year may be somewhat low, but we expect annual sales of 20 billion KRW."

Medical staff at Hanoi Medical University Hospital in Vietnam are explaining how to use KT's non-face-to-face care service app, 'Doctor Around,' to patients.
[Photo by KT]

KT plans to secure know-how through its healthcare business in Vietnam and target both the Korean and global markets. Lim said, "Due to COVID-19 and other factors, domestic regulations have improved significantly. In Korea, we expect to start projects targeting high-risk diabetes groups in the second half of this year, and patient-targeted fee-for-service projects from next year." He also stated, "There is high awareness of K-Medical in countries near the Mekong River. After focusing on Vietnam, we will target surrounding countries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.