The General Authority for Healthcare (GAH) is accelerating efforts to expand Egypt’s medical tourism sector, with international revenues rising 37% year-on-year to surpass $10m, while nearly 42,000 tourists have received treatment at the authority’s hospitals.
The authority said the latest figures reflect growing demand for the advanced medical services provided by its facilities and their increasing competitiveness in the regional and international medical tourism market.
Ahmed El-Sobky, Chairperson of the General Authority for Healthcare, held an expanded meeting with officials from the authority’s departments and sectors responsible for medical tourism to review developments in the sector and discuss mechanisms to attract more international patients and maximise revenues.
El-Sobky stressed the importance of focusing on medical specialties with strong demand and competitive advantages in the medical tourism market, particularly cosmetic procedures, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), obesity treatment, and advanced dental care, alongside other medical specialties.
He called for developing integrated medical packages and marketable services that can be offered under contractual arrangements and tailored to the needs of targeted international markets, enhancing the competitiveness of Egyptian healthcare services.
The GAH chairman also directed the authority to strengthen integration with “Tour 4 Cure”, Egypt’s national medical tourism platform, through the digitalisation of healthcare tourism services and the development of an integrated system for managing international patients’ healthcare journeys.
The authority plans to link the medical capabilities and services available across its facilities to the platform, facilitating international patients’ access to appropriate services while integrating marketing, referral, coordination, and patient reception efforts.
El-Sobky further instructed the establishment of dedicated points of contact and designated areas within GAH facilities to serve foreign patients and manage contracts.
The move is intended to create a clear institutional pathway for handling international patients and contracting entities and improve responsiveness throughout the patient journey, from arrival at the facility through completion of treatment.
As part of its international expansion strategy, El-Sobky directed the immediate launch of coordination with specialised Turkish medical centres focusing on medical tourism that were visited during the authority’s recent trip to Turkey.
The coordination aims to activate cooperation opportunities and benefit from Turkish expertise in medical service development, marketing, and international patient acquisition, while expanding the authority’s international partnership network and opening new channels to attract patients from overseas markets.
El-Sobky emphasised that international partnerships are a key pillar for developing Egypt’s medical tourism sector, enabling the exchange of expertise, adoption of successful international practices, and development of cooperation models that create added value for all parties.
The authority said the next phase will build on the current growth in medical tourism, targeting a significant increase in the number of international patients and medical tourism revenues while further strengthening Egypt’s competitiveness as a regional and international healthcare destination.
