TEHRAN-- Advisor to the Omani Ambassador to Iran, Haitham Al-Sanani, and Director of Fars Cultural Heritage Department Mohsen Ziaei have recently met and talked about promoting mutual cooperation, particularly in the medical tourism field.

According to IRIB, both sides emphasized the special status of Shiraz as one of the top tourist destinations of Iran and considered the available opportunities in the health and treatment sector. 

The provincial tourism chief said that Shiraz boasts unique potential in the medical field.

He explained that modern hospitals, specialized medical teams, and treatment services with world-class standards have turned Shiraz into one of the main health tourism hubs of the region in recent years.

Pointing to the launch of the comprehensive health tourism system, he said that the health tourists can have access to complete information about permitted hospitals, health travel service offices, and specialized tour guides via this system.

This system will directly accept requests, provide services, and also register possible complaints from health tourists, he added.

Ziaei continued that complaints related to travel service offices and medical centers will be handled through a legal mechanism and strict supervision to fully ensure the health and satisfaction of medical tourists.

Al-Sanani also expressed interest in expanding cooperation in the field of health tourism, describing Shiraz as a city with high potentials for attracting Omani tourists and emphasizing the strengthening of communications between the two countries in this area.

At the end of the meeting, both sides emphasized the development of joint cooperation, introducing Shiraz's medical capabilities to the Persian Gulf Arab countries, and facilitating the presence of health tourists from Oman.

A comprehensive medical tourism system has been implemented in three provinces of Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, and Fars, and will be implemented across Iran in the near future, said the deputy tourism minister, Anoushirvan Mohseni Bandpei in mid-August.

He explained that the system has been planned in order to integrate the services and create transparency, given the necessity of processes related to the arrival of health tourists, the Tourism Ministry announced. 

Based on the decision of the Strategic Council of Medical Tourism, it has been implemented in a pilot plan at first and then in an experimental way in provinces of Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, and Fars, he said. It is going to be implemented across the country by the end of the Iranian month of Shahrivar, he added.

Mohseni Bandpei continued that the system’s platform has been designed and implemented in such a way that the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the authorized medical centers with International Patient Department (IPD) units, travel agencies, health tourists, doctors, tour guides, and even translators all carry out their activities in the aforementioned system within the framework of regulations.

KD