Steering council dedicated to medical tourism to be formed in Iran

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

A meeting was held to discuss ways to expand Iran’s medical tourism through diplomatic efforts with target countries, ISNA reported. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi, and Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Minister Ezzatollah Zarghami met with several members of the Iranian Parliament on Saturday.

According to the ISNA report, the delegates proposed a plan to increase collaboration and assist harness medical tourism sector’s huge potential for revenue generation.

They also discussed the country’s relative strength in admitting foreign medical travellers, such as reliable surgeons and physicians, specialised hospitals, cutting-edge medical technologies, and reasonably priced medical services.

According to the study, they resolved to form a steering committee to improve inter-institutional cooperation across all governmental and non-governmental agencies involved for medical tourism.

Earlier this month, Mahdi Safari, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy, stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intends to assist in attracting six million medical tourists every year. Safari made the statements during a conference attended by top tourism and health ministry officials, as well as a slew of other travel experts, hospital executives, and tour operators.

Attaining this goal would need collaboration among relevant organisations and institutions, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will devote all of its resources to tourism development in all of its forms, according to the official.

In addition, deputy tourism minister Ali-Asghar Shalbafian stated that the most significant issue in the field of medical tourism was dispute among essential organisations and the lack of a single trustee for this tourism industry.

“Now, this disagreement is addressed with the establishment of the health tourism steering council and the approval of the necessary procedures for the duties of each of the relevant institutions, and gradually some other problems in the field of medical tourism will also be resolved,” Shalbafian explained.

Mohammad Hossein Niknam, who heads the Ministry of Health’s Department for International Cooperation, emphasised Iran’s advantages in medical tourism, citing experienced medical staff, low treatment costs in comparison to other countries, high-quality medical services, and well-equipped specialised hospitals.

Medical tourism is expanding over the world, with around 20 to 24 million individuals travelling for medical treatments each year. Particular people choose to travel overseas because of factors such as greater care demands over longer life spans, rising healthcare expenses and continual pressures on particular insurance businesses.

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