Kwangju Christian Hospital
KR Gwangju, South Korea · multi-specialty
Trust Index 78 · Strong
How this score is built
75% of the score is objective and verifiable; the same public formula applies to every clinic.
Every price shows its source and verification;
Kwangju Christian Hospital (광주기독병원) is a 종합병원 (general hospital) in Yangnim-dong, Nam-gu, Gwangju — the city's oldest modern hospital, founded November 1905 by Dr. J. W. Nolan, an American Southern Presbyterian medical missionary, and still run today as a Christian mission institution (재단법인 광주기독병원, with active chaplaincy and mission departments). It is licensed for 545 beds (per the current KOIHA/소비자24 accreditation registry, valid 2024-12-01 to 2028-11-30; the hospital's own 2024 history entry separately states 574 beds — treated as normal registry/reporting-date variance, not averaged) across roughly 22 clinical departments spanning internal-medicine subspecialties, general/thoracic surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics, orthopedics, neurosurgery, rehabilitation medicine, radiology, and dentistry. Its own year-by-year history page claims several regional firsts — Korea's first pediatric exchange transfusion, the Honam region's first ERCP/endoscopic ultrasound and joint-replacement surgery, and Gwangju's first robotic surgery (Robotic Surgery Center, 2021) — and it runs a regionally designated NICU, a hospice/palliative-care ward, and a comprehensive health-screening center. KOIHA-accredited (급성기 / acute-care type), directory-verified via 소비자24. No JCI claim found anywhere on its own materials.
Verified against: Kwangju Christian Hospital — official site, 병원장인사말 (Director's greeting) [via Wayback Machine] · Kwangju Christian Hospital — official site, 목적및연혁 (Purpose & History, year-by-year) [via Wayback Machine] · Kwangju Christian Hospital — official site homepage / navigation [via Wayback Machine] · 소비자24 (Korea Consumer Agency) — 의료기관인증 registry entry, 광주기독병원 · OpenStreetMap Nominatim — geocode for 광주기독병원, 양림로 37, 남구, 광주 · kr_newsweek_135.json — Newsweek Korea's Best Hospitals chain map entry (rank 109, Nam-gu, Gwangju) · rankings.newsweek.com · google.com
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- Patient rating
- 3.8/5
- 68 Google reviews
- Trust Index
- 78/100
- Strong
- Data confidence
- 48%
- Partial · 31% verified
- Founded
- 1905
- 121 yrs
Medical Travel Cost Hospital Index
MHI · Method 1.3 Methodology →One comparable score per hospital — each metric below is measured against the registry and weighted by the same public formula. Unsourced metrics are excluded, never guessed.
100% of the formula backed by data
- Trust Index 78 Our index 78/100 · vs 137 same-country hospitals · 100th percentile
- Profile completeness 48 Our index 48% · share of our profile verified vs modeled — informational, not scored
- Quality & reputation 67 ✓ Verified #109 in country (Newsweek/US-News) · 3.8★ Google · objective outcomes ≫ independent ranking ≫ patient reviews · 90th percentile
- Accreditation 71 ✓ Verified 2 independent · current JCI ≫ independent bodies (Magnet/CAP/DNV) ≫ historical/on-record
- Price transparency — Not sourced — · separate pricing axis — informational, not scored in the quality grade
- Scale 76 ✓ Verified 545 beds · vs 84 sourced hospitals in the registry · 51th percentile
The composite is the weight-normalized mean of available metrics. The same method applies to every hospital in the registry. Machine-readable version below for models & crawlers.
Location & getting here
Verified 2026-07-14Address, neighbourhood, and how long transit and airports take.
37 Yangnim-ro, Nam-gu, Gwangju 61661, South Korea (광주광역시 남구 양림로 37, 우편번호 61661)
Nam-gu (양림동) · Gwangju, South Korea
Getting here
- Yangnim 0.3 km · ~4 min (≈, OSM)
- Baegun(Nam-gu Office) 1.0 km · ~12 min (≈, OSM)
Accreditations
Independently verifiableOnly independent, checkable accreditations and rankings — published by the accrediting bodies themselves. Self-reported trade awards are deliberately omitted.
Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation (KOIHA), delegated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare
Directory-verified (not just hospital-claimed) via 소비자24 (consumer.go.kr) registry lookup: 의료기관종류=종합병원, 교부번호=4-172, 인증제종류=급성기, 인증상태=인증, 인증일자=2024-12-01~2028-11-30, 허가병상수=545, 병원소재지=광주광역시 남구 양림로 37 (exact address match). The hospital's own history page separately logs earlier cycles — '2013년 보건복지부 인증 의료기관 획득' (1st cycle) and '2016년 보건복지부 의료기관 인증 획득(2주기)' — corroborating this is a recurring, multi-cycle accreditation, not a one-off claim.
Not applicable
No JCI claim found anywhere on the hospital's own About/history pages (which otherwise log detailed accreditation and facility milestones year-by-year back to 1905) or in the Newsweek Korea chain-map entry. Not included as a claim, and not directory-checked, since there is nothing to verify.
Newsweek / Statista
#109 in South Korea (listed as "Kwangju Christian Hospital")
Independent signals
SourcedGovernment quality-inspection grades, independent accreditation/certification, and insurer networks — matched from public registries, not submitted by the hospital.
Compare hospitals in South Korea
Our indexSide by side on what actually decides the choice — our grade, the Newsweek ranking, patient reviews, accreditation, and real verified prices. Best in each row marked ★.
Compared with 3 other South Korea hospitals here, Kwangju Christian Hospital carries a B grade (#109 in South — World's Best Hospitals 2026), ranks #4 of 4 on our merit score (70).
| Metric | This hospital Kwangju Christian Hospital Gwangju | Samsung Medical Center Seoul | Asan Medical Center Seoul | Severance Hospital (Yonsei University) Seoul |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital gradeNewsweek in-country rank where ranked, else our merit score | B · 70 | AAA · 93 ★ | AA · 91 | AA · 87 |
| Newsweek rankWorld's Best Hospitals | #109 in country | #1 in country ★ | #2 in country | #3 in country |
| Patient ratingGoogle, sourced | 3.8★ | 3.9★ | 4.0★ ★ | 3.8★ |
| Accreditationindependent bodies | 2 independent ★ | JCI | JCI | JCI |
| Published pricesverified, comparable | — | 6 verified | 7 verified ★ | 2 verified |
| From pricecheapest verified | — | $94 ★ | $154 | $409 |
| Profile | You're here | Open profile | Open profile | Open profile |
Six decision metrics on the same public formula — our grade, the Newsweek ranking, patient reviews, accreditation and real verified prices. "—" means not yet sourced, never guessed. Best in each row marked ★. All hospitals →
Common questions about Kwangju Christian Hospital
Straight answers from the data on this page — cost, accreditation, rating, and location.
Is Kwangju Christian Hospital accredited?
Yes — Kwangju Christian Hospital holds KOIHA 의료기관인증 (의료기관평가인증원), acute-care (급성기) type, JCI (Joint Commission International). We list only independent, checkable accreditations published by the accrediting bodies themselves; self-reported trade or marketing awards are excluded.
How is Kwangju Christian Hospital rated?
Kwangju Christian Hospital has a 3.8-star Google rating from 68 reviews, and scores 73/100 (grade A) on our independent Trust Index, alongside its rank of #109 in South — World's Best Hospitals 2026. The Trust Index is one public formula applied to every hospital — the
What is Kwangju Christian Hospital known for?
Kwangju Christian Hospital (광주기독병원) is a 종합병원 (general hospital) in Yangnim-dong, Nam-gu, Gwangju — the city's oldest modern hospital, founded November 1905 by Dr. J. W. Nolan, an American Southern Presbyterian medical missionary, and still run today as a Christian mission institution (재단법인 광주기독병원, with active chaplaincy and mission departments). It is licensed for 545 beds (per the current KOIHA/소비자24 accreditation registry, valid 2024-12-01 to 2028-11-30; the hospital's own 2024 history entry separately states 574 beds — treated as normal registry/reporting-date variance, not averaged) across roughly 22 clinical departments spanning internal-medicine subspecialties, general/thoracic surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics, orthopedics, neurosurgery, rehabilitation medicine, radiology, and dentistry. Its own year-by-year history page claims several regional firsts — Korea's first pediatric exchange transfusion, the Honam region's first ERCP/endoscopic ultrasound and joint-replacement surgery, and Gwangju's first robotic surgery (Robotic Surgery Center, 2021) — and it runs a regionally designated NICU, a hospice/palliative-care ward, and a comprehensive health-screening center. KOIHA-accredited (급성기 / acute-care type), directory-verified via 소비자24. No JCI claim found anywhere on its own materials.
Where is Kwangju Christian Hospital?
Kwangju Christian Hospital is located at 37 Yangnim-ro, Nam-gu, Gwangju 61661, South Korea (광주광역시 남구 양림로 37, 우편번호 61661), Nam-gu (양림동), Gwangju, South Korea.
Traveling to Gwangju, South Korea
Sourced Full South Korea guide →South Korea crossed the 1-million mark as a medical-travel destination for the first time in 2024: about 1.17 million foreign patients were treated, up 93.2% from 610,000 in 2023 (Ministry of Health and Welfare / KHIDI). The largest patient groups came from Japan, China, the United States, Thailand and Taiwan, and the most-used specialties were dermatology, plastic surgery, internal/general medicine and health screening. Seoul concentrates most volume, drawing patients for aesthetic and dermatologic care, health check-ups, oncology and advanced surgery delivered in JCI-accredited hospitals with dedicated international-patient centers — at prices below the US while the government regulates and publishes standards through KHIDI's Medical Korea program.
- Visa
- Most Western nationalities (US, UK, EU/Schengen, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan) enter visa-free for short medical or tourist visits. The K-ETA (electronic travel authorization) requirement is temporarily WAIVED for 67 countries and territories through 31 December 2026 — eligible travellers enter without applying for a K-ETA; the requirement is expected to resume 1 January 2027. Confirm your nationality's current rule before travelling.
- Medical / long-stay visa
- For treatment, foreign patients typically use the C-3-3 medical tourism visa (short-term, stays up to 90 days, generally not extendable beyond 90 days except in special circumstances). For treatment or recovery longer than 90 days, patients change to or apply for the G-1-10 long-term medical treatment visa, which can be extended inside Korea; it requires hospital documentation (medical opinion, treatment schedule, payment records). Applications must be tied to a medical institution registered with KTO/KHIDI.
- Arrival
- From 1 January 2026, all foreign arrivals must file the mandatory digital e-Arrival Card online (within 3 days before arrival) — it replaces the paper disembarkation card and is a declaration, not a visa. Travellers who hold an approved K-ETA are exempt from the arrival card, but nationals of K-ETA-waived countries (US, UK, EU, Japan, etc.) must still complete the e-Arrival Card.
- Currency
- South Korean Won (KRW, ₩)
- Languages
- Korean; English widely spoken in international-patient centers at major hospitals, with interpreter services in multiple languages
- Safety & recourse
- Very safe for visitors · Established malpractice recourse
General guidance — confirm current rules for your nationality with official sources. Verified against: Korea Immigration — K-ETA temporary exemption extended to 31 Dec 2026 (MOFA/KPMG GMS alert) · Korea e-Arrival Card mandatory from 1 Jan 2026 · Medical Korea — medical visa (C-3-3 / G-1-10), KHIDI · MOHW — Korea attracts 1.17 million foreign patients in 2024.
Data & sources
31% verified Show all dataHow much of this profile is verified data — every section above carries a chip telling you where its numbers come from.
All 16 data fields — what's verified, imported or modeled Show more Hide
- Identity & location ✓ Verified
- Accreditation ✓ Verified
- Published prices Not yet collected
- Languages Not yet collected
- Patient reviews ✓ Verified
- Staff & expertise Imported
- Safety & complications Modeled
- Accommodation & rooms Modeled
- Facilities & access Imported
- Insurance & payment Modeled
- Inclusive & accessible care Modeled
- Ownership & governance ✓ Verified
- Volume & outcomes Modeled
- International-patient mix Modeled
- Surgical team depth Modeled
- Specialties & clinical professions ✓ Verified
Every field is tagged by source state. "Verified" = sourced and checked; "Imported" = real data pending re-verification; "Modeled" = deterministic placeholder for this preview; "Not yet collected" = on our roadmap. Confidence feeds the Trust Index and the finder's verified-only filter. Methodology →
Reviews, staff, accreditations, awards, research and inclusive-care figures are aggregated or modeled from published signals for this preview; real registry, outcome and review data replace them before launch. How we model this →