TEHRAN – Mashhad’s medical tourism revenues were 2.5 trillion rials ($6.25 million) in the first nine months of the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21, 2022), a local official in charge of medical tourism said on Tuesday.

“Mashhad has earned 2.5 trillion rials which shows a considerable rise year on year,” said Davoud Khoshshekan of Mashhad’s  University of Medical Sciences.

People from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Bahrein constituted the major part of medical travelers visiting the northeastern city, the official said.

Based on available data, the number of foreign nationals visiting Mashhad to attain medical services jumped by 50 percent in the first half of the current Iranian year in comparison to the same period a year earlier. During the mentioned period, some 23,000 travelers from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Tajikistan received medical services from Mashhad hospitals.

Some 66% of the international clients were women and 33% were men, who received services from licensed medical centers in the fields of the eye, heart, gynecology, obstetrics, orthopedics, and plastic surgery.

During the past Iranian year (1400), Mashhad received 24,300 foreign medical travelers who were either hospitalized or gained outpatient treatments, according to Davood Khoshashkan, who presides over the medical tourism department at the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

Iran is primarily visited by medical tourists seeking to undergo cosmetic surgery. The director of the health tourism organization director said last month. Travelers from Iraq, Afghanistan, Oman, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain constitute the higher share of Iran’s medical sector, Diako Abbasi said.

Available data compiled by the Health Ministry suggest the Islamic Republic hosts an average of one million medical tourists per annum. Shiraz, Mashhad, Yazd, Tabriz, Urmia, Ahvaz, Ramsar, Ardabil, Kermanshah, Tehran, Isfahan, and Sanandaj have been the most desired destinations for medical tourists, Abbasi said.

Medical tourism in Iran, according to some experts, is a win-win opportunity both for the country and foreign patients, as they are offered affordable yet quality treatment services and the country gains considerable foreign currency.

The Islamic Republic is known in the world as an affordable destination for health tourism, and the government is making a great effort to attract more medical tourists in the years to come.

Credible surgeons and physicians, cutting-edge medical technologies, high-tech medicine and diverse specializations, super affordable procedures, and finally its hospitable people, are considered Iran’s trump card when it comes to medical tourism.

AFM