A panel on medical tourism at the 2023 Kazan Forum.
Doha, Qatar: Medical tourism in Russia has seen a noticeable increase over the past few years, with a significant part of the patients coming from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries. The number of foreigners receiving medical treatment in Russia has risen from 0.3 million in 2017 to 1.2 million in 2022, according to a statement by the international forum “Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum”.
The top five OIC countries with respect to number of their citizens receiving medical services in Russia are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The most popular services with foreign visitors are transplantation, dentistry, oncology, ophthalmology, neurosurgery and surgery, including cardiovascular surgery, otorhinolaryngology, obstetrics and gynaecology, urology, traumatology and orthopaedics.
According to Mikhail Murashko, Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, ophthalmology is the most demanded by foreign patients in Russia, including those from Arab countries.
Experts believe the increase in the number of patients is the result of Russia’s federal project “Development of exports of medical services” since 2019. Halal medical tourism has already appeared and is developing in Russia, the statement said.
The Republic of Tatarstan in Russia has a regional programme “Halal Tourism” with voluntary certification of sanatoriums to receive guests from Islamic countries. At the federal level, a specialized agency to carry out domestic certification of halal products — Roskachestvo-Halal — evaluates and certifies sanatoria across the country.
The Roskachestvo-Halal certificate is valid on the territory of the Gulf countries, a number of states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and also in the countries of the Customs Union.
“Among the advantages that patients come to Russia for are: Well-developed high-tech medical care, high quality standards, availability of top category doctors with international experience and qualified general medical staff, affordable cost of medical services and related expenses (accommodation, food, transport), personalisation in treatment and the possibility of rehabilitation treatment, as well as territorial proximity as a number of OIC states border Russia,” the statement added.
The 2024 Kazan Forum is taking place in Kazan, Russia, from May 14 to 19, 2024. It will gather delegates from across the OIC countries to deepen cooperation in diverse fields. Registration for participation is open on the official website of the forum.
