\u201cA total of 166 hospitals in the country hold licenses and meet standards in this arena so that they are running international patient departments,\u201d added Mohammad Jahangiri who presides over a national center for developing health tourism.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, the number of first-class hospitals in the country is more than that, nonetheless less than 400 hospitals have been volunteered to serve in this area,\u201d ISNA quoted Jahangiri as saying on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough there are serious weaknesses, but we have considerable capacities in health tourism. One of those is the transfer of money as foreign patients cannot carry a large amount of cash.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lack of sufficient direct flights to some countries, somewhat booked-up hotels in high seasons are amongst other issues that should be addressed, the official explained.<\/p>\n
Previously, Jahangiri said some 400,000 medical tourists traveled to the country during the past Iranian calendar year 1396 (March 2017-March 2018).<\/p>\n
Iran attracts health and medical tourists mainly from Iraq, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, the U.S., European countries as well as the Persian Gulf littoral states.<\/p>\n