The Chairman of the Private Hospitals Association Dr. Fawzi Al-Hammouri said that the directives of His Majesty King Abdullah II to follow up the government's plans and programs to improve the tourism sector in the Kingdom confirms the fact that medical tourism has been and one of His Majesty concerns and his keenness to maintain the achievements of the Jordanian health sector that contributed in making Jordan an advanced destination for patients who come to the Kingdom from around the world for treatment.
He added that the Royal directives are an incentive for all concerned parties of the Medical tourism to work as a team to develop and promote this tourism and awareness of its vital importance to the national economy and the need to keep Jordan as the first destination for medical tourism due to strong competition from many countries in the region to attract patients as these countries realized the importance of this tourism and its positive effects on many sectors and its role in increasing investment opportunities in the health sector and reducing the unemployment rate and supporting other tourism sectors.
Dr. Al-Hammouri appreciated His Majesty's directives to work on the growth of medical tourism as a real and advanced industry and provide comprehensive and integrated packages of attracted products and services to raise the competitiveness of this vital sector. He said that this directives confirm His Majesty's follow-up of developments in the medical tourism not only in Jordan but in the region and the whole world, This is due to the fact that Medical tourism represents a strong tributary of the national economy and national income.
Dr. Al-Hammouri said that Royal directives are also an important support to the strategy of the Private Hospitals Association and its local and international activities to promote Medical tourism and preserve Jordan's position as the best destination for patients and to invest in the available health capabilities in the Kingdom benefiting from the security and political stability and the existence of privileged relations between Jordan and many various countries in the world.
He said that the government has started to develop a comprehensive plan for medical tourism through the formation a national team that includes all relevant bodies including the Private Hospitals Association and concerned governmental bodies, including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Tourism, the Jordan Tourism Board, the Jordan Investment Commission and many others.
Dr. AL-Hammouri stressed that the government decisions issued two months ago to facilitate the entry of patients from the restricted nationalities to the Kingdom contributed to the increase the number of patients by 20% and we expect more patients during the summer.
Dr. Al-Hammouri pointed out the need to make more efforts to promote Jordan as a destination for health travel based on the Amman Declaration to expand the health travel umbrella to include the eight segments of medical tourism, which are dental treatment, Wellness tourism, spa tourism, Culinary tourism, sports tourism, (Accessible tourism), and Assisted Residential tourism. He said that the optimal promotion of these eight segments and invest all available resources such as developed medical services and attracted natural and wellness sites will increase the number of visitors and raise the Kingdom's income.