Pakistan government keen on medical tourism: IMTJ

A sudden government interest in health tourism to prop up a national tourism industry with problems is an increasingly familiar refrain. The latest in this growing list of countries with little existing inbound medical tourism is Pakistan.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Taliban-linked attacks across Pakistan in the last two years, scaring away all but the most intrepid foreign tourists. Pakistan earned $200 million from 800,000 visitors in 2007. Fewer than 400,000 visitors came in 2008, and the numbers are expected to be even lower this year.” Terrorism has really affected us a great deal,” admits Tourism Minister Ataur Rehman.The Pakistan government hopes that medical tourists can help revive the country’s troubled tourism industry in a big way, which is why the main focus of their new tourism policy will be on health tourism.

Rehman says that his ministry is in consultation with the provincial tourism departments, travel agencies, airlines, businessmen, and other stakeholders on the new policy of providing foreigners with quality healthcare at a price far less than what they pay in Western countries, “The introduction of health tourism will not only bring in foreign tourists but will also help develop health infrastructure on modern lines, create job opportunities, generate greater revenues and most importantly, cast off the country’s negative image of being an unsafe destination.”

He argues that the country has internationally acclaimed doctors and world-class medical facilities, with Pakistani hospitals and doctors being at par with their Western counterparts in specialising in the fields of heart surgery, eye care, cancer therapy, dentistry and diagnostics, at a fifteenth of the cost overseas.

Rehman says a new plan to revive the tourism industry is essential as there has not been a fully new one for two decades. The aim is engage the private sector in developing the tourism infrastructure to attract locals and foreigners.

The minister criticises international newspapers and TV channels, for inflicting considerable damage on the country’s tourism industry and substantially reducing numbers, by generalising a bad law and order situation

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