Capacity Development Analysis of Medical Tourism in Hospitals of Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: One of the new tourism capacities of Iran in recent years is medical tourism, which has grown significantly. Tehran is one of the most important cities in the Middle East in the field of medical tourism. This study intends to analyse medical tourism capacity development in Tehran hospitals from international tourists’ perspective to identify the most efficient factors in medical tourism capacity development in Tehran hospitals. Methods: The research type is applied and the research method is descriptive-analytical. The research sample is the international medical tourists entering five major Tehran hospitals having the International Patient Department license (IPD), in which 154 samples were selected randomly from a total sample society of 258 using Cochran formula. Results: The results show that the priority areas of medical tourism capacity development in Tehran are low medical costs, optimal quality of services, easy access to medical services and physicians’ knowledge, respectively. Conclusion: In general, regarding the studied variables, it can be concluded that there is a good opportunity for medical tourism capacity development in Tehran from the international tourists’ viewpoint.