Tanzania earns 116bn/- as revenue from medical tourism doubles

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Director of Diplomacy from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador John Ulanga, has said there has been a 19 percent increase in medical tourism, which earned Tanzania 166.5bn in four years.

He said that from 2021 to 2025, the number of patients who came for treatment within the country has doubled from 5,700 to 12,180

Speaking today in Dar es Salaam at an open scientific debate on medical tourism in the country conducted by the Jakaya Kikwete Heart Institute (JKCI), Ambassador Ulanga said that those receiving them come from 16 African countries where 2,770 patients are from Comoros, 46 percent are from Burundi, eight percent from Zambia, 10 percent from DRC and four percent from Kenya.

“From 2021 to 2025, there has been significant growth in services such as JKCI, MOI, Muhimbili, Benjamini Mkapa, and Ocean Road. We had a goal of reducing Tanzanians going abroad, but now we are attracting patients to come in,” he explained.

He said that by 2030, they expect to have 30,000 medical tourists, in 2040, 68,000 patients, and in 205,0, which is the end of the vision, they will have 120,000 patients who will come to be treated in specialist services.

“The contribution to the economy is direct income currently, in 2025, the contribution of medical tourism is 65m/-US dollars per year

In 2030, we have the potential to reach 200m/ US dollars in 2040, it could be 420m/ US dollars, and in 2050, it targets to fetch  850m US dollars,” explained Ambassador Ulanga.

In retrospect, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Seif Shekalaghe, said that these achievements are due to the strategic plans of major investments made by the government.

He said the goal is to reach a middle-income economy and to become the center of medical tourism in Africa.

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“The Ministry has prepared the environment to achieve medical tourism. We have prepared a guideline for medical tourism and not only for the government but also for other sectors. The Ministry will continue to provide scholarships to specialists through the Samia Scholarship this year. We rely on specialists in these institutions to be there,” said Dr. Shekalaghe.

For his part, the Director of JKCI, Dr. Peter Kisenge, who also serves as the Director of Medical Tourism, said that 99 percent of heart patients are now being treated within the country, where an amount of 95 billion shillings has been saved from going abroad.

“So far, we have reached 23 regions in the Samia Suluhu Hassan Outreach program, where many citizens have received services, and we have opened hospitals in Mikocheni, Kaw,e and Arusha. We have entered into an agreement with Seliani to treat heart patients, and we are currently going to Chato,” he explained.

He said that so far they have performed small-bore surgeries on 14,000 patients, major and minor surgeries on 6,000 patients, and outpatient (OPD) is 900,000.

He said that in the next two weeks, they are going to start a program to treat patients with failed hypertension.

“We will continue to expand our services, we will establish a heart hospital in Comoro, and in Mloganzila, we are starting to build a children’s heart hospital,” he said.