REVO

Medical Robot Industry Association invited Woong Hee Shon, President of Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, for a Meeting

A picture of attendees of the Medical Robot Industry Association Meeting held on the 26th at meerecompany that was taken to celebrate the event.

From left to the right, the photos feature Hyeon Seop Park, Vice President of T-ROBOTICS; Kyu Nam Cho, publisher of Robot News; Joon Koo Kim, CEO of meerecompany; Woong Hee Shon, President of the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement; Jae Hwan Kim, Director of the Headquarters of Korea Association of Robot Industry; Ho Kun Lee, Executive Director of meerecompany; and Gyeong Cheol Koh, Executive Director of Koh Young Technology inc.

The Medical Robot Industry Association (President: Kwang Il Koh) invited WoongHee Shon, President of the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement, for a meeting held on the 26th at meerecompany.

This meeting was attended by Joon Koo Kim, CEO of meerecompany; Ho Kun Lee, Executive Director of meerecompany; Gyeong Cheol Koh, Executive Director of Koh Young Technology inc.; Hyeon Seop Park, Vice President of T-ROBOTICS; and Jae Hwan Kim, Director of Headquarter of Korea Association of Robot Industry.

"I'm so happy that our domestic surgical robot, which we managed to develop with government R&D fund despite the difficult challenges, has been selected for this demonstration project. For companies dealing with medical devices or medical robots, the thing they want most is to accumulate references. It's been really difficult to take the first step to present our own domestic medical device because the field is very conservative, so we are so grateful for that the government and associations provided us with their support and interest," said Joon Koo Kim, CEO of meerecompany.

He added, "I met one of the hospital staff using our Revo-i some days ago, and the hospital wanted to proceed with R&D for it. Rather than seeing this demonstration as the finish line, we hope this cycle of R&D → Demonstration → Additional R&D → Additional demonstration → Additional industrialization → Commercialization continues. Considering that the hospital has its own research institution, I think meaningful development can be achieved if we identify additional R&D projects and create a product that clients want."

"The medical industry needs to make products more competitive through advancement based on demonstration projects like this. Once we've accumulated significant records and the functions are improved based on demonstration projects, I think it'd be a good approach to start targeting the Southeast market since its industrial environment is similar to ours," suggested Woong Hee Shon, President of the Association.

"When we first planned this project 10 years ago, we expected that a domestic laparoscopic surgical robot would attract a great deal of attention, but it's a little disappointing that it isn't. Even though our surgical robot technology is world-class and major hospitals are performing 10 thousand cases of robotic surgery every year, domestic surgical robots aren't being delivered to those places. There is an invisible barrier against domestic robots, but we should keep trying to actively penetrate major hospitals based on reasonable persuasion and verification of our product's excellence. Right now, many hospitals are financially suffering due to COVID-19. So, it's reasonable to expect that it would be difficult for them to purchase surgical robots," said Gyeong Cheol Koh, Executive Director. "Please consider allowing demonstration and supply projects for about 10 hospitals, including 5 in Seoul and 5 in non-Seoul areas. That can change people's thinking about domestic surgical robots," he added.

"Priming projects such as demonstration and supply can be organized by the Ministry of Industry, but when it changes into a voucher project, it is governed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. That's why it's been difficult to actively proceed with promotion," said Shon, President of the Association.

"It'd be ideal to deliver products to major private hospitals first, such as Severance Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, and ASAN Medical Center. However, an alternative would be initially penetrating public and national hospitals through support from the government. In that way, we'd build up our track record and then expand to private hospitals," suggested Jae Hwan Kim, the Director of Headquarters.

"China is also discussing regionally balanced medical development, but our country doesn't seem to be very interested in this issue. It is a form of discrimination and unfair that people from non-Seoul areas have to come to Seoul and stay for several days in order to undergo examinations and surgeries," said Kim, CEO.

"Japan has shown a great increase in sales of laparoscopic surgery robots, from dozens to 300 to 400. The reason for this is health care insurance benefit coverage. In our country, the cost for laparotomy is 3 million KRW, but it grows to 8 to 10 million KRW when robotic surgery gets involved. Because of this big gap, the health care insurance doesn't get applied. If meerecompany can close this gap using domestic surgical robots, then the health care insurance can become applicable. So, I'd suggest this strategy of involving healthcare insurance," said Gyeong Cheol Koh, Executive Director.

"One of the goals of this demonstration project is to make decisions on an appropriate medical fee," said Ho Kun Lee, Executive Director.

"Each province has a hospital of a public nature, so I think it'd be a good idea to target them first. I think it'd be good to find a strategy to apply for insurance while building up our track record at those hospitals," said Jae Hwan Kim, Director of Headquarters, adding his opinion to the discussion.

"Based on today's discussion, I hope the Medical Robot Industry Association can discuss a large-scale plan for developing domestic medical devices with the Ministry of Industry. It would be difficult for us to organize a discussion like this as individual companies. The current medical device market is overwhelmingly occupied by large global companies, so there's no room left for Korean companies. That's why we plan to start overcoming this with our own robots. Our Association should ask the government for help with the goal of becoming the spearhead for fostering domestic surgical and medical robots," suggested Hyeon Seop Park, Vice President.

"As our competitive strength grows, based on the demonstration project, and our product is improved based on R&D-related feedback from on-site users, we should focus on not only this strategy involving the insurance fee but also on speeding up our advancement into a larger market. We will strategically seek an inter-ministry discussion, but it will also be necessary for companies to actively participate in domestic and international exhibitions to promote domestic surgical robots. We need to show that they are not inferior to foreign products," said Shon, President of the Association.

At the meeting, there were also suggestions about the Association's supply project and future projects. The attendees agreed on continuing to hold these meetings for future policy development.

The meeting was followed by an introduction and demonstration of the robot product in the meerecompany's surgical robot demo room.

▲Attendees listening to meerecompany personnel's description of the Revo-i surgical robot

The laparoscopic surgery robot, “Revo-i” is a minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery robot that a surgeon uses to make a hole smaller than 1 cm in a patient's body, insert surgical tools attached to the 4 robot arms, and perform surgery by viewing the 3D image.

▲Woong Hee Shon, President of the Association, personally manipulating the robot with the console

Currently, the robot is domestically supplied and used in Gibbeum Hospital in Gangnam, Seoul, Queen's Park Women's Hospital, and Korea Cancer Center Hospital. Regarding foreign markets, the company is continuing various activities, including the contract conclusion and certification process in multiple countries.

▲The system for the “Revo-i” laparoscopic surgery robot

The scope of usage for today's surgical robots has expanded, ranging from colorectal surgery, urology, cardiothoracic surgery, breast, and endocrine surgery, ob-gyn, and even microsurgical fields such as radical prostatectomy, in addition to laparoscopy.

▲Various devices used for robotic surgery

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