Equipped with on-site diagnostics and future AI,
buses address rapid aging where 24.8% are over 65

On the afternoon of the 6th, citizens climb onto a medical bus to receive eye examinations
at the Busan Seo-gu Disabled Welfare Center. Photo by Kim Dong-hwan

This bus is a medical bus operated by the Busan Metropolitan Government since 2021.
To provide medical care for elderly individuals and disabled people who have difficulty visiting hospitals regularly,
it visits welfare centers daily with specialists in otolaryngology, neurology, internal medicine, family medicine,
and ophthalmology on board. While ‘outreach buses’ occasionally operate in remote rural areas,
the distinguishing feature of Busan’s five medical buses is that they periodically visit 125 out of 206 neighborhoods
(eup, myeon, dong) within the city for medical services. To this end, local hospitals such as Pusan National University Hospital,
Haeundae Bumin Hospital, Maryknoll Hospital, and Busan Catholic Medical Center dispatch doctors.
So far, nearly 50,000 patients have been treated. A source from the Busan Metropolitan Government said,
“Although Busan is a large city, one might assume there are no areas without access to medical services.
However, aging is progressing so rapidly that many elderly people miss the optimal time for treatment,
which is why we operate these medical buses.” In Busan, 1 in 4 citizens, 24.8%, are aged 65 or older,
making it the fastest-aging metropolitan government in the country.

While traditional rural ‘outreach buses’ typically require patients to visit hospitals to receive test results
even after examinations, Busan’s medical buses are equipped with systems that allow on-site viewing
of ultrasound and blood test results. In the future, an artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostic system is also planned to be introduced
on the buses. With AI diagnostics, multiple diseases can be diagnosed even without specialists in specific fields.
CEO Jang Hyuk-jae of Ontact Health, a healthcare startup that developed the medical bus’s technical systems
(and a professor of cardiology at Severance Hospital), said, “There have been cases where AI detected vascular abnormalities
through ophthalmic microscope images alone, identifying patients with atherosclerosis.” He added, “In the future,
it will also be possible for medical buses to visit welfare facilities where many elderly people gather,
detecting and preventing various diseases.”