The largest health town and mountainside hospital in the country are under construction in Sib Tourist Resort located between the cities of Damavand and Firouzkuh in Tehran province.
The location happens to be the oldest forest reserve in Tehran Province, where junipers are thousands of years old.
The development activities in Sib Tourist Resort will be a decisive step toward promotion of health tourism. In the mountainside medical center, the latest scientific achievements are being applied and successful examples across the world are being emulated, one of the founders, Qasemi, said.
Sib is a special hospital and includes emergency department, general surgery ward, cardiology division, sanitarium, ICU, CCU, pharmacy, laboratory, infection control department and wellness house, Aqiq-Parsian Holding Company quoted Qasemi as saying, Donya-e-Eqtesad reported.
Capacities in Sib Tourist Resort will attract foreign tourists seeking medical treatment. The health town in the resort will offer services of radiology, sonography, CT scan, cancer treatment, physiotherapy and community health improvement plan.
“There will be also psychological and psychotherapy services for both domestic and foreign visitors,” Qasemi said.
Since Sib Mountainside Hospital enjoys favorable weather conditions and is equipped with modern facilities, it is the best place to get well in, Qasemi said.
But the local fresh air does not seem to stay the way it is. Due to road construction activities that dominated the preliminary phase of Sib Project, part of the Juniper forest reserve of Aminabad in Firouzkuh was destroyed.
Environmental associations such as the Association of Payeshgaran-Mohit-Zist (Environment Watchers) warned against the destructive operations, but the commercial project is continuing to invade the old forest areas and fell junipers that have resiliently stood there for centuries.
Sib Tourist Resort comprises three separate sites containing 2,500- to 3,000-meter-tall juniper trees. Hundreds of hectares of the mountain tract are being replaced by usual fancies seen in recreational centers: malls, restaurants, water-park, conference hall and amusement park.
Gondola cars will connect all these. Rumor says a hunting ground is to be established there, where people will get rifles to kill animals.
The resort will be open all year long, offering recreational, medical and tourist services to all ages.
Experts fear for the loss of the region’s rich biodiversity, including 300 endemic plant species, as well as leopards, boars, wild sheep and goats that are already disappearing.
