TEHRAN, Iran - On Sunday, a different hospital was inaugurated in Tehran which can attracts hundreds of thousands of patients from across the world to Iran.
The complex has 17 hospital floors and 21 hotel floors, with over 100 beds, 40 beds at intensive care units, and 17 operation rooms.
"Gandhi hospital hotel is providing the most advanced medical services in spaces common between hospital and hotel for the first time in the Middle East. We want to change the patients' mentality and help them recover faster when they experience services they cannot find in an ordinary hospital", says Doctor Mohammad Hassan Bani Assad, the General Manager of the hospital. As a country with the most advanced medical equipments and knowledgeable doctors, Iran is an ideal destination for patients, especially when they compare medical expenses with other countries.
"In medicine, the services provided in Iran are competitive among all the developed countries. Besides, the expenses are considerably low in Iran. That's why foreigners are ready to incur travel expenses but benefit from healthcare services in Iran", says the embryologist, Doctor Mansooreh Movahedi.
The hospital officials say when the patients are hospitalized, they suffer from their physical problems and the least they have tried to do is to provide an atmosphere in which the patients and their families can find peace. The general surgeon, Doctor Naser Rahbar believes: "We already have tourists who come to Iran for treatment. But when their families are with them all the time, they will definitely have a better spirit and it positively affect s their treatment".
In 2012, Iran hosted 200,000 health tourists, earning $1.5 billion, a figure more than double 2011. So far, most of the health tourists have been from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait, Oman, India and Pakistan. Medical tourists from neighboring states mostly come for transplants, ophthalmology, orthopedics and dentistry. With modern medical centers like Gandhi hotel hospital, Iran can be hopeful to significantly increase its health tourists.