Tehran, Iran, May 5
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:
A number of Azerbaijani firms have signed agreements with the Tourism Holding Company of Iran’s Social Security Organization (SSO) to develop their cooperation in the fields of hospital hoteling and health tourism services, Gholamhossein Ebrahimbay Salami, the managing director of the Tourism Holding Company of the SSO, known by its Persian acronym Hegta, told Trend May 5.
“The SSO is organizing 25 hospitals along with 220 physicians to provide medical care for tourists,” he said.
The SSO has now 70 hospitals and 400 clinics across the country, Ebrahimbay Salami said, adding that all the medical centers will provide hoteling services and admit medical tourists in the near future.
He also said that the organization plans to build hospitals in three cities close to borders- Oroumiyeh, Tabriz, Rasht - in a bid to help people from neighboring countries.
Based on the Sixth Economic Development Plan (2017-22), Iran is projected to attract between 500,000 and 600,000 medical tourists every year. However, some officials have questioned whether this target is feasible.
Iran’s ultimate goal is to earn around $25 billion a year through tourism by 2025, around $2.5 billion of which will come from medical tourism.
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