TEHRAN – A total of 220 hospitals have been granted special licenses for medical tourism, Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi said on Friday.

“Currently, 220 hospitals in the country have obtained health tourism permits and can accept foreign tourists for treatment,” Einollahi told reporters.

The number of international travelers seeking medical services in the Islamic Republic rose 200 percent in the first half of the current Iranian year in comparison to the same period before the coronavirus era, a tourism official said earlier this year.

Based on available data, the Islamic Republic attracted more than 125,000 international patients who received medical services during the first quarter of the current Persian calendar year. The majority of those travelers came from Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Persian Gulf littoral states.

The ancient country is primarily visited by medical tourists seeking to undergo cosmetic surgery, according to Diako Abbasi, who presides over the health tourism organization. In addition, international patients typically choose Iran for organ transplants, ophthalmology, and infertility treatment, he said.

Shiraz, Mashhad, Yazd, Tabriz, Urmia, Ahvaz, Ramsar, Ardabil, Kermanshah, Tehran, Isfahan, and Sanandaj have been the most desired destinations for medical tourists, Abbasi said.

Data compiled by the Health Ministry suggest the Islamic Republic hosts an average of one million medical tourists per annum. Revenues from medical tourism fetched over $1 billion [per annum] up to the coronavirus outbreak.

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.

Foreign patients are offered affordable yet high-quality medical care in Iran, and the country gains a sizable amount of foreign exchange in the process.

When it comes to medical tourism, Iran's strengths are thought to include qualified surgeons and medical professionals, state-of-the-art equipment, high-tech medicine and a variety of specializations, incredibly affordable procedures, and last but not least, its friendly people.

According to experts, in order to promote medical tourism, it is important to acknowledge the strategic medical tourism status of each province in the nation, provide a skilled workforce, offer top-notch services, upgrade infrastructure, and foster a supportive attitude toward authorities who support the medical tourism industry.

Although people also travel for dental or fertility tourism, cosmetic or other types of surgeries account for the majority of medical tourism. It encompasses a broad spectrum of health-oriented travel, from preventive and health-conductive treatments to restorative and curative modes of travel.

About one million medical tourists, mainly from the neighboring countries, arrive in Iran annually, Mohammadreza Tarjoman, who presides over the Health Ministry’s tourism office said in April. The country has set goals to exceed its yearly medical travelers to around two million in [calendar year] 1404 (March 2025-March 2026).

AFM