Long-term urban living can lead to increased levels of anxiety and stress, reduced sleep quality, and similar issues. One proposed solution is health tourism or medical tourism, which involves seeking medical and health services by traveling to another region or country. Join us in exploring health tourism in Iran.
In this era of global medicine where international travel and online medical information are readily accessible, health tourism is an important issue for national healthcare systems and a necessity from a global health perspective. Patients worldwide can choose their treatment systems by obtaining sufficient information from unlimited and independent sources beyond borders and financial resources, and easily travel to any desired destination by purchasing flight tickets.
Medical Tourism is a broad and comprehensive term that encompasses a wide range of different activities. However, its almost unified definition refers to traveling to other countries with the intention of receiving medical and health services known as medical tourism or health tourism. This treatment can include a wide range of medical and health services, the most common of which are dental care, cosmetic surgery, organ transplantation, and infertility treatment. Of course, this definition can vary significantly in different countries.
In some countries, only foreign patients visiting hospitals are considered health tourists, while others account for all individuals entering the country for this purpose as medical tourists. One type of this tourism even includes migrants traveling from a foreign country to their homeland or patients traveling to another part of their own country, in which no international travel occurs.
The Health Tourism Industry in Iran
The potential for health tourism in Iran to attract health tourists is such that the twenty-year outlook (Document 1404) estimates 20 million health tourists in the country. Achieving this goal depends on private sector participation and increased advertising in the health sector. This issue has also drawn the government’s attention, and many memorandums of understanding have been signed with various countries in this regard. Additionally, the performance of the tourism organization, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the medical system plays a significant role in developing this sector.
Health Tourism is generally divided into three categories:
- Medical Tourism
- Curative Tourism
- Wellness Tourism
Medical Tourism
It includes medical services in the fields of heart, brain, beauty, hair transplantation, rhinoplasty, and more, all of which are generally related to vital and essential parts of the body. The most common and the most sensitive subcategory of health tourism is related to Medical Tourism. These trips are usually undertaken for the treatment of diseases, surgical procedures, or health monitoring of patients in clinics, treatment centers, and hospitals.
Many tourist countries that offer medical tourism services provide these services specifically, and sometimes exclusively to medical tourists to increase revenue. Some important factors that significantly impact the development of medical tourism and the attraction of more travelers in the field of health tourism in a country include:
- The presence of skilled and specialized doctors
- Having hospitals and clinics operating under modern global standards
- A beneficial history of medical science
- The existence of healthcare infrastructure with medical supervision
- Having complete and up-to-date medical equipment
- Availability of hotels with suitable amenities and activities such as tourism and travel services for visitors
Curative Tourism
Medical tourism is a subcategory of health tourism. The term medical tourist refers to individuals who visit centers with natural treatment resources and medical services under the supervision of a doctor. These natural services include the following:
- Warm springs
- Bright sunshine
- Mud therapy
- Salt lake
- Therapeutic massage
- Herbal bath
- Beautiful and clean environment
Thanks to its unique nature and various natural therapeutic resources, Iran is one of the leading countries in health tourism. Alongside these natural and therapeutic resources, a suitable environment for the accommodation of tourists has been provided allowing travelers to experience their treatment processes in complete tranquility during their stay in Iran. Currently, more than 1,000 mineral springs with therapeutic properties have been identified in Iran, which are considered as natural attractions of the country apart from health tourism.
Wellness Tourism
This category includes wellness and non-surgical services such as therapeutic massage, acupuncture, hydrotherapy, and the use of cold and hot springs in destination countries, which also encompass aspects of recreation and entertainment. These types of tourists travel with the aim of rejuvenation, enhancing mental relaxation, and escaping from the stresses and worries of life without medical supervision or intervention. Among the wellness tourism attractions in Iran are stays in hotels and forest villas (staying in hotels close to the desert, beach, and mountainous areas), where visiting natural landscapes and pristine locations undoubtedly has a significant impact on the relaxation of health tourists.
Reasons why health tourists choose Iran
It all starts when a foreign patient decides to pursue treatment in a third country and how they are convinced to do so. Certainly, two important and influential factors motivate a foreign patient in making the decision to seek treatment in another country:
- Paying lower costs compared to the country of origin
- High quality of equipment, medical centers, and the expertise of doctors in the destination country.
Certainly, the leverage of treatment costs in the destination country is very important especially in the field of cosmetic treatments and surgeries, which incur the highest medical expenses. Considering the two above factors, the presence of patients from Arab countries, Iraq, Oman, and Afghanistan is justifiable, and the reason is precisely the lower prices of medical services and the quality of medical centers and accommodations in Iran.
Traveling to Iran for any reason can be one of the best memories in a traveler’s life. Considering the facilities, pleasant weather, affordable costs, and more, whether for health tourism, studying in Iran, or living in this green country.
