Cyprus is aiming to attract more medical tourists through the use of “imported” doctors. The Ministry of Health has granted temporary licenses to doctors from non-EU countries that are interested in providing treatment and performing operations on foreign patients in Cyprus, provided that the medical treatment is not practiced by Cypriot doctors.
Cyprus is aiming to attract more medical tourists through the use of “imported” doctors. The Ministry of Health has granted temporary licenses to doctors from non-EU countries that are interested in providing treatment and performing operations on foreign patients in Cyprus, provided that the medical treatment is not practiced by Cypriot doctors.
The Ministry of Health and Cyprus Medical Association are co-operating so that Cypriot doctors can benefit from this plan, through their further training in operations and medical practices, which are not provided in Cyprus. The Cyprus Tourism Organization and Cyprus Medical Association are working together to promote the island as a medical tourist destination. The Cyprus Health Services Promotion Board is also focused on the development and promotion of Cyprus as a Medical Centre and the provision of health services in general. The Board was founded in November 2006 after an initiative taken by the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), and brings together healthcare providers across Cyprus who deliver services to residents, holidaymakers, visitors and travelling patients.
Local newspaper Cyprus Mail was not impressed by the plan to “import” doctors and commented, “Could anyone seriously believe that granting temporary licences to foreign surgeons to perform a few dozen operations a year in Cyprus would promote medical tourism? Even most of the money that would be paid for these operations would be taken out of the country by the foreign surgeons; hence the economic benefits would be minimal. To attract medical tourism a country needs not only several well-equipped hospitals, but also many specialist doctors. Cyprus has neither because the small population cannot justify the creation of big general hospitals or allow the development of the level of specialisation that would attract patients from abroad. If the government were serious about developing medical tourism it would first have had to carry out an in-depth study of how this could be achieved. We suspect that as soon as it saw the level of investment required, in equipment, facilities and human resources to turn Cyprus into a regional medical centre it would immediately abandon the plan.”
There is room to improve the promotion of Cyprus tourist destinations online, according to a recent study by the University of Nicosia and PricewaterhouseCoopers. It looked into Cypriot tourism to record opinions, views and messages from the two main factors that shape the tourist scene – the tourists and the local professionals.
The food, accommodation and hospitality were listed as the island’s strong points where tourists seem to be especially satisfied. On the other hand, tourism-related websites are not frequently visited.
PwC Cyprus examined and evaluated specific forms of tourism, conducting targeted interviews with selected people from the tourist activity in Cyprus. They concluded that health and wellness tourism was popular as one in three tourists visit Cyprus for health and wellness reasons, recording a significant increase in comparison to previous years.
The main advantages of health and wellness tourism include the quality of services and facilities as well as the quality of added services. Despite the fact that tourists were generally satisfied with the tourism infrastructure in Cyprus, only a small percentage of all tourists (6.3%) said that they got their money’s worth in Cyprus.
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