Hospitals in Busan for English speakers

The Basics

Busan has solid hospitals but fewer international-oriented options than Seoul. Pusan National University Hospital and Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital are the main large facilities. The Busan Medical Tourism Center can help connect you with English-speaking providers. If you're in the Haeundae beach area, Haeundae Paik Hospital is the closest major hospital.

Costs are similar to Seoul, maybe slightly lower. A clinic visit is cheap by Western standards, and an ER visit costs a few times more. As in Seoul, you do need to pay out of pocket and claim on insurance later.

If you're staying near Haeundae or Gwangalli beaches, Haeundae Paik Hospital is your closest option. For the Nampo-dong and Jagalchi market area, Pusan National University Hospital is more accessible. Both are reachable by subway. For emergencies, 119 works the same as in Seoul.

English is more limited in Busan than in Seoul. In an emergency, call 119: it has interpreters. For help in English that is not an emergency, call the 1330 Korea travel hotline. Some doctors at the university hospitals speak English, but don't count on it at smaller clinics. The Busan Medical Tourism Center (051-714-3800) can help arrange English-speaking appointments.

Pusan National University Hospital has a pediatric emergency department. For less urgent issues, neighborhood pediatric clinics are everywhere and most have English signage. In our experience, Korean hospitals are efficient with children and wait times are often short.