Iran Health Tourism growing fast
According to Iran’s Health and Medical Education Ministry, more than 500,000 tourists from neighboring countries visited Iran for medical purposes during 2019 which is show Iran health tourism growing fast.
about 73,000 mentioned tourists were hospitalized to receive the medical services and the rest were outpatients.
More than 70% of Iran’s health tourists are seeking services in special medical fields, such as gynecology, cosmetic surgery, ophthalmology, cardiology, and orthopedics. Iran has enough capacity to receive 2-3 million health tourists every year.
The main reason for the increase of Iran Medical Tourism is the depreciation of Iranian currency Rial against foreign currencies especially Dollar that made traveling to Iran cheaper and cheaper. Another factor is the expertise of Iranian physicians that made Iran’s medical services market attractive for foreigners.
The capital of the Fars Province, Shiraz that is already one of the top tourist destinations in Iran is focusing on health and medical tourism to boost its economic prospects.
The deputy head of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences mentioned that the majority of foreign tourists visit Shiraz for eye and plastic surgeries and the hair transplant is another popular purpose for them.
“Shiraz health city will soon be established in the western part of the city,” Shiraz MP Ali Akbari said.
The visa waiver program for citizens of Oman is another step to boost the Iran Medical tourism sector in particular.
The Iran Health Tourism Council says 105 hospitals have been licensed to establish an International Patient Department and increase services to foreign tourists.
Statics shows the majority of tourists visiting Iran for hair transplantation, nose jobs, and hard-to-treat diseases.
Those tourists who travel with their families for a short vacation or as pilgrimage can obtain a health visa to use medical facilities at the same time.
Each foreign patient spends more than $3,000 and Iran earns $1.2 billion from Health tourism annually and it is increasing every year.
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- Jack novelson says:
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Leelah 
Jack novelson Leave a Reply
In 2003, After the new policy to boost the medical tourism in Iran, the international patient department (IPD) was founded inside the Iran health ministry to help medical tourism companies and hospitals provide better quality services for foreigners seeking medical assistance in Iran. Medical tourism in Iran has become a booming industry in the past decade. People from neighboring countries cross borders in search of better quality and lower prices for their medical treatments. Also, many people fly from Europe and North America for high-quality cosmetic surgery in Iran. Iran is now the medical tourism hub in West Asia and the middle east.