Robotic surgery is being performed on a colorectal cancer patient at Asan Medical Center in Seoul's Songpa-gu District. (Asan Medical Center)

By Koh Hyunjeong

Three major domestic hospitals are considered world leaders by topping nine out of 10 clinical fields in the latest evaluation of the best specialized hospitals in Asia.

The U.S. magazine Newsweek on June 18 said this in its latest annual list of the "Best Specialized Hospitals Asia Pacific."

Asan Medical Center ranked first in Asia in five specialties -- cardiology, cardiac surgery, neurology, endocrinology and orthopedics -- while Samsung Medical Center led three: oncology, pulmonology and gastroenterology.

Seoul National University Children's Hospital was named Asia's best institution for pediatrics.

The evaluation was based on a survey of some 8,000 medical professionals in 11 countries including Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore and Taiwan. The rankings reflected a range of criteria like medical performance indicators, patient satisfaction and patient-reported outcome measures.

Newsweek and Statista, a global market research company, jointly conducts the annual survey. The magazine releases its list of the world's best hospitals every February and that of specialized medical facilities in Asia every June.

hjkoh@korea.kr