The conclusion of the Egyptian Wellness and Medical Tourism Summit in Cairo brought a boost to the medical tourism potential. With no previous Medical Tourism initiatives, this summit was the first step in Egypt's interest in developing a Medical Tourism Program. Several experts in the field of Medical Tourism were present including key note speaker, Renée-Marie Stephano, President of the Medical Tourism Association.
The key to a sustainable medical tourism program will be the balance of investment in international healthcare and the education of the local population to use these healthcare services, she stated.
Though Egypt is in the first stage to become a Medical Tourism Destination, the government has already taken a giant leap to weigh the effectiveness of market efforts by requesting information on immigration forms which will reveal how many people are entering the country for medical procedures.
The Congress was well attended with representation from the office of the Minister of Health and the Tourism Authority with high hopes that a consortium of stakeholders will allow this Medical Tourism initiative will take off over the next year. Dr. Abdelkarim Kamel, Executive Medical Tourism Director, Egyptian Ministry of Health stated, The summit was a great success and very well organized. The summit is a starting point that will position Egypt as a world medical service provider.
Egypt's new slogan, Where it all Begins, is a true testament to the history of medicine in Egyptian culture and history. Egypt has a long respected tradition of medicine including the invention of the concept of holistic wellness.
We should not deal with the summit, as a meeting that came to an end; rather consider it as the first step in the creation of a national wellness and medical tourism strategy for the country, stated Mostafa Hunter, Lead Expert for the Healthcare Sector, Ministry of Investment of Egypt.
The Medical Tourism Association is made up of the top international hospitals, healthcare providers, medical tourism facilitators, insurance companies, and other affiliated companies and members with the common goal of promoting the highest level of quality of healthcare to patients in a global environment. Our Association promotes the interests of its healthcare provider and medical tourism facilitators members. The Medical Tourism Association has three tenets: Transparency, Communication and Education.
The Medical Tourism Association seeks to provide transparency in both quality of care and pricing. Every day it is apparent that the globalization of healthcare has created a very flat world. The MTA exchanges technology, information, communication, physicians and patients. In order to ensure patient safety, it is the goal of the MTA to create a transparency about the quality of healthcare that can be found in each country.
With this, it is increasingly important to create a transparency in pricing as well, so patients traveling overseas for care can be sure of what they are receiving without hidden costs or unforeseen expenses. The Medical Tourism Association is also working on the Quality of Care Project, which will change the way individuals look at the reporting of global healthcare statistics and the quality of care available at hospitals around the world. http://www.MedicalTourismAssociation.com
