Parliamentary committee approves draft law on medical tourism

CAIRO – 11 December 2018: A draft law on medical tourism was approved by the House of Representatives’ Tourism and Civil Aviation Committee on Monday.

During a Monday meeting, the committee’s deputy Amr Sedki said the draft law will ensure coordination between the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Health in the emerging field of medical tourism.

He said Egypt has around 1,300 medical sites, but they do not have resorts; hence, the ministries should cooperate to develop these sites.

The ministers of foreign affairs and aviation have worked on establishing a mechanism to issue medical tourism visas to foreign patients for the first time in Egypt, an official source said in March.

Ayman Abdel Aziz, secretary general of the newly formed technical committee for medical tourism, said 20 hospitals will receive patients from abroad. A guide to the sites offering medical tourism services will be issued, added Abdel Aziz, who works under the supervision of the cabinet.​

The medical tourism program will offer heart, orthopedic, eye and other surgeries in the first phase for 15 Arab and African countries, Abdel Aziz explained.

In February 2017, Egypt launched the "Tour and Cure" medical tourism initiative. The initiative offers treatment to HCV infected patients from all over the world, with an effective and advanced treatment program at a lower cost.

Argentinian football player Lionel Messi promoted the "Tour and Cure" campaign in a visit in February. Egypt is a pioneer in wide scale, cheap treatment of HCV.

Highly effective dental implants are also famous in Egypt and are considerably cheaper given the low price of the pound against the dollar.

Natural Therapy in Egypt

Numerous mineral springs in Egypt constitute a therapeutic tourism attraction. A spring in Wadi Assal (Honey Valley) in Ras Sudr is known among the locals to treat arthritis, and cleanse the skin.

Hammam Moussa, located about three kilometers north of el-Toor City, includes five springs that pour into a pool covered by a large dome. The pool is continually filled with natural, renewable sulfuric water that measures 38° Celsius, and is believed to help cure rheumatism, arthritis, bone and skin diseases, as well as heal wounds.

Hammam Pharaon (Pharaoh’s Bath), located on the international road to Sharm El-Sheikh, is a natural pool of water springing from caves inside a mountain and pouring into the Gulf of Suez. Water in the bath contains a high concentration of sulfur.