It’s a royal pain to be an expat, hunting for English-speaking doctors, dentists and dermatologists in Daegu. Sometimes, you feel like they’re secrets known only unto Koreans. You enter Google searches like a serial number hacker, only for the internet to spit back one name… the same one that most expats recommend and who you’ve tried but think is expensive, third world crap! But seriously, what options do you have?

Here’s the reality of expat life– it’s all network. One person finds/hears of an international doctor, who can speak English and we all go to him.  It’s not a choice… it’s the only solution. There’s no long directory list on the expat forums or on the Korean Tourism Organization website and I’m not about to scour the internet, clicking on every random link.

As Korean advances to globalization- the KTO website has improved and Daegu city’s tourism site is readily working towards English-expat friendly.

Daegu parades itself as the city for medical tourism, even over Seoul! Why then,  is it so friggin hard to find an international medical directory (and preferably one with website links and English translation page)? Why?

It’s because most directories and medical websites still only speak for Korean. If anything is addressed towards the English language, it’s a meager page or so of minimal information. Daegu? As far as Seoul and Thailand go (the biggest competitors), you’ve still got a long way to go.

But there is good news!

Tucked away in Daegu’s Metropolitan City site, I found a semi-decent directory.  I copied and pasted it here. Unfortunately at this time, no email or website listings are inserted. Nope, that’s another hunt, which I leave to you and Google!

Any with recommendations or reviews of places on this list (or not), feel free to leave a comment. (more…)