Iran Welcomes Millions of Medical Tourists Every Year

Deputy Health Minister Saeed Karimi said on Monday that Iran has been welcoming millions of medical tourists on a yearly basis and that no Iranian patient is sent abroad for medical treatment.
“Medicine is highly advanced in Iran and we’re pre-eminent among the countries in the region,” Karimi was quoted as saying by IRNA at a conference on international medical centers and hospitals at the IRIB International Conference Center. 
According to the official, out of a total of 1,100 hospitals throughout the country, 250 have been granted the permit to admit and offer services to patients with foreign nationalities. 
Karimi said that the government was constructing large health facilities in several metropolises in an effort to market Iran as a destination for medical tourism, “They can provide services to foreign patients.”
He added that Iran had to provide easy access to information on its renowned medical centers to potential tourists. 
“Most foreign patients visit the country’s hospitals for infertility, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, cosmetology, orthopedics and transplantation,” he said. 
Karimi noted that Iran had generated a revenue of $1 billion from health-related tourism alone, but he failed to specify the time period in which the revenue was brought in. 
A member of parliament at the conference, Mohammad Ali Mohseni Bandpey, attributed the success to Iran’s skillful medical experts, low cost of treatment and high-quality services. 
Bandpey added that Iran was planning to boost its medical tourism industry by offering insurance coverage to foreign patients. 
“Iran has a lot of potential in the health sector. We have exported one billion euros in medicine and we can also achieve success in medical tourism,” the lawmaker said. 
Tehran, Mashhad, Yazd, Shiraz and Ahwaz are among the top destinations chosen by tourists who choose to cross borders to seek affordable treatment.