Infrastructure is the most important challenge not only for medical tourism, but also for tourism in general. The Moldovan authorities should devote special attention to this aspect, especially to the airport, the executive director of the Medical Tourism Association of Moldova Andrei Revenco sated in a public debate titled “Moldovan-Romanian partnership in tourism sector, joint development strategies”. According to him, foreign partners with extensive experience in the field of tourism say that about five million foreign citizens will visit the Republic of Moldova in the next five years and a significant part of them will come for medical treatment.
The executive director of the Medical Tourism Association of Moldova said the fact that Moldova obtained the presidency of the Global Healthcare Travel Council for the next two years is the result of a joint effort. Currently, the main priority is to promote medical tourism internationally and digitize services to facilitate patients’ access to information. The new status will increase the country’s visibility globally and intense work is being done to promote not only medical tourism, but also tourism in general. “The people are the most important resource of the Republic of Moldova and we seek to promote and value them,” he stated.
Andrei Revenco said that the best promotion of medical tourism is from person to person, which is why the diaspora will be involved in the promotion process. The diaspora can bring added value to the country, especially to the economic sector. “Imagine that we have about a million citizens outside the country. Let’s admit that each citizen sends one patient to the Republic of Moldova per year. A patient who comes to the Republic of Moldova for medical purposes leaves €3,000-€5,000,” stated the executive director of the Medical Tourism Association of Moldova.
He also said that the country is especially recognized for dental tourism. In Moldova, there is a private dental clinic that has already started the construction of a specific hotel for their patients who come from abroad. Plastic surgery is another developing service, with specialized doctors who meet all the international standards and perform various surgeries. In the United States, a plastic surgery by a doctor who has more US$30,000 operations costs US$50,000, while a doctor from the Republic of Moldova, with the same experience and number of operations, can offer much more affordable rates.
In vitro fertilization is another distinctive service in the country’s tourism offer, which in the Republic of Moldova has a very high success rate. Andrei Revenco said that the success rate nationwide exceeds 40% and this attracts patients from abroad, who choose Moldova for these procedures.
The public debate entitled “Moldovan-Romanian partnership in tourism sector, joint development strategies” was the seventh edition of the project “Double integration through cooperation and information. Continuity”, which is funded by the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova. The content of this debate does not represent the official position of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova.
