September 06-13
Despite sanctions and general isolation, Iran might just become a destination for medical tourists from neighboring countries and the Islamic world.
Cheap prices and better facilities than many regional countries offer is the big draw.
Jordan has long been the local market leader in medical care. But Jordan is now struggling to cope with the healthcare needs of more than a million Syrian refugees. The International Medical Travel News, published in Britain, said last week, “Iran has a very high potential for expansion and further development of Ö health tourism.”
It says, “The existence of mineral fountains in many parts of the country, targets one market. Other markets include fertility treatment, stem cell treatment, dialysis, heart surgery, cosmetic surgery, and eye surgery. It also produces unique medicines such as the anti-AIDS drug IMOD, and other high-tech drugs.”
Foreign medical tourists can be sub-divided in two groups. The first group is those who travel from advanced countries seeking high-level medical service at considerably lower prices.
The other type of medical tourists is those who come from less advanced countries, such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, where medical services are not satisfactory. Iran can offer quality health services at very reasonable prices.
Some 30,000 medical tourists already enter Iran annually, and economic surveys show that each medical tourist brings three times as much hard currency to the country as regular tourists. There are also some 200,000 health, wellness and spa tourists.
Dr. Hassan Rushki of the Iranian Health Ministry’s Health Tourism Committee told the Journal, “If the infrastructure for health tourism were improved, we would gain a substantial amount of hard currency from this industry, which is why we need to develop medical tourism.
“Unfortunately, despite the high profitability and the huge potential of Iran for attracting health tourists, health tourism has still not been recognized as a national industry in our country. Medical services in Iran are comparable with those offered in advanced countries. We must develop and make further investments in our tourism industry.”
The Health Tourism Committee sees Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq—all with poor healthcare services—as logical target markets.
Rushki said, “China highlights their acupuncture medical treatment and Thailand highlights its massage therapy sessions—each attracting a huge number of tourists to their countries. Iran has unused capacities in similar fields, and rare medicines rarely found elsewhere, which should be taken full advantage of.”
Iran has already produced rules and regulations for tourist health care service centers. Hospitals and clinics that want to offer health tourism services need to acquire licenses from both the Ministry of Health and the Iranian Tourism Organization.