TEHRAN – Iran’s southern province of Fars is to establish a medical tourism company in the neighboring country of Oman, an official with the province’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines & Agriculture has said.

To accept patients from Oman to Fars province and provide services to these medical tourists, there are plans to establish a company with the shareholdings of five province’s IPD certified hospitals in Oman, ISNA quoted Sohrab Sharafi as saying on Sunday.

The province is currently hosting a large percentage of Omani health tourists, but if this project is implemented, it would be able to host more patients from other Persian Gulf countries, including Qatar and Kuwait, the official added.

Fars province has great potential in medical tourism, but it needs a specific brand to attract more patients, he noted.

Back in June, the province’s deputy governor-general Mohammad Farrokhzadeh announced that the number of international travelers who received medical services in Fars province’s hospitals hit a record high during the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year.

The number of medical travelers to Fars jumped 250 percent and 550 percent respectively in Farvardin (Mar. 21-Apr. 20) and Ordibehesht (Apr.21-May 21) in comparison to the same months last year, he said.

“It is an unprecedented record of its kind,” the official said.

According to statistics, hospitals of Fars province admitted 10,500 foreign medical travelers and received some 5,000 international outpatients last year (ended Mar. 20), he mentioned.

Iran 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. Many believe that medical tourism in the Islamic Republic 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.

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. A selection of 200 Iranian medical centers has permission to accept foreign patients, he added.

Amid Iran’s trump cards are the presence of credible surgeons and physicians, cutting-edge medical technologies, high-tech medicine and diverse specializations, super affordable procedures, and finally its hospitable people. Iranian hospitals offer a wide variety of medical services such as eye surgeries and services, cardiovascular surgeries especially pediatric heart surgery, bone marrow transplantation, gynecologic and obstetric surgery, oncologic services, cerebrospinal surgery, orthopedic surgery (total knee & total hip replacement, etc.), and urologic surgery, and so many other services.

The Islamic Republic has set goals to exceed its yearly medical travelers to around two million in [calendar year] 1404 (March 2025-March 2026).

ABU/AM