TEHRAN – The Iranian ministers of tourism, health, and foreign affairs have decided to establish a steering council tasked to buttress the medical tourism sector of the Islamic Republic.

On a Saturday meeting, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Health Minister Bahram Einollahi, and Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Minister Ezzatollah Zarghami sat with several members of the Iranian Parliament to discuss ways to develop medical tourism by expanding diplomatic efforts with target countries, ISNA reported.

The attendees outlined a roadmap to step up collaboration and help unlock the vast potential of the sector for income generation, the report said.

They also exchanged views on the country’s relative strength in admitting international medical travelers, such as credible surgeons and physicians, specialized hospitals, cutting-edge medical technologies and affordable medical services.

In this regard, they decided to establish a steering council to upgrade inter-institutional coordination between all governmental and non-governmental bodies responsible for medical tourism, the report said.

Earlier this month, Mahdi Safari, the deputy foreign minister for economic diplomacy, said Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to help attract six million medical tourists per year. Safari made the remarks in a meeting attended by top officials from the tourism and health ministries and a host of other travel insiders, hospital administrators and tour operators.

Attaining this target requires close cooperation between responsible organizations and institutions, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is at the service of tourism development in its various dimensions with all its strength, the official said.

Also, the deputy tourism minister Ali-Asghar Shalbafian said the most important problem in the field of medical tourism was a disagreement between the relevant institutions and the lack of a single trustee for this tourism field. “Now, this disagreement is addressed with the establishment of the health tourism steering council and the approval of the necessary procedures for the duties of each of the relevant institutions, and gradually some other problems in the field of medical tourism will also be resolved,” Shalbafian explained.

Mohammad Hossein Niknam, who presides over the Ministry of Health’s Department for International Cooperation, reminded Iran’s advantages in medical tourism in terms of experienced medical staff, low treatment costs compared to other countries, high-quality medical services and well-equipped specialized hospitals.

Medical tourism is booming worldwide, as about 20 to 24 million people are traveling for medical treatments annually. Factors such as increased care needs over longer lifespans, rising healthcare costs, and constant pressures on some insurance industries are reasons behind why some people opt to travel abroad.

AFM