AROUND 60 per cent of private clinics in Cyprus are involved in medical tourism with some even taking in as much as 50 per cent of their business from abroad, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) said yesterday.
Although no widespread surveys have yet been done on medical tourism to the island, the sector is growing rapidly evidenced by the hosting of the second-ever World Health Tourism Congress, which begins tomorrow in Limassol.
CTO official Athena Theodorou said that delegates from 60 countries would be attending the three-day conference at Le Meridien Spa and Resort, which was voted as the World’s Leading Spa Resort at the World Travel Awards in 2005.
Here the delegates will meet a large selection of providers from Cypriot clinics and also have a chance to see what services they are available and the facilities being offered.
“This is very important for Cyprus,” said Theodorou. “It is putting Cyprus on the map as a medical tourism destination
Theodorou said facts and figures about medical tourism on the island were still scarce. “But some surveys done by the Health Ministry showed that 60 per cent of private clinics are active in medical tourism,” she said. “The amount of business varies but there is at least one clinic where 50 per cent of its business comes from abroad.”
Theodorou said Cyprus was mostly popular for cosmetic surgery followed by orthopaedic and physiotherapy. There was also a market for gynaecologists and fertility treatment, and in dentistry.
“Dental surgery here can be half the price it is in the UK and that includes the cost of the ticket here and the holiday costs,” said Theodorou said.
Tomorrow’s opening session will be addressed by EU Health Commissioner Marcos Kyprianou, Health Minister Charis Charalambous and Tourism Minister Antonis Michaelides. CTO will give a presentation about Cyprus as medical travel destination.
Guest speakers include Keith Pollard from the British organisation Treatment Abroad, who will present an overview of the UK Health Tourism market.
The American market, where health insurance and cosmetic and medical services are often prohibitive, will also be a focus of the conference. “Medical Tourism and the Wooing of the American Patient” will be presented by Jeff Schult, Author of “Beauty from Afar: A Medical Tourist’s Guide to Affordable and Quality Cosmetic Care Outside the US”.
More than 40 million residents of the US have inadequate or no health insurance and some 500,000 annually go abroad, mostly for cosmetic surgery and dentistry but the availability of overseas medical options remains an unknown to the vast majority of potential patients.
This will be the second annual World Health Tourism Congress. The first annual was hosted in Germany in 2006.
??
??
??
??
