The Republic of Moldova took over the chairmanship of the Global Healthcare Travel Council for the next two years and is represented by the Medical Tourism Association of Moldova. The future of medical tourism promises to be one with great opportunities and challenges both for the Republic of Moldova and globally. Today, the Republic of Moldova has a clear position in the global medical tourism industry, Natalia Ciobanu, president of the Medical Tourism Association of Moldova, stated in the official ceremony of taking office. She noted that the country’s current offer includes dental services, in vitro fertilization, cardiology and plastic surgery, and new directions will be developed starting this year, IPN reports.
The president of the Medical Tourism Association of Moldova Natalia Ciobanu said that work will be done to increase the number of medical services that the country can offer, such as orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, balneo-sanatorium treatment. The Republic of Moldova has a good history in the balneo-sanatorium field, but it needs investments to reach the required European and global standards. In addition to medical tourism, Moldova can also offer schooling, improvement and innovations.
Secretary of state of the Ministry of Culture Andrei Chistol said that this important international organization will bring the Republic of Moldova many benefits in terms of promotion of the country, attraction of investments, using the extraordinary human capital that the country has and economic development. “We really want to increase the number of tourists coming to the Republic of Moldova. We want the period of stay to be as long as possible. We want these two elements to attract investments to the tourism industry and in the medical field and, at the same time, to diversify the national tourism products and offers, and finally, of course, the most important thing is to increase the field’s contribution to economic development and revenues in this industry,” stated the official.
Deputy mayor of Chisinau Angela Kutasevich said that medical tourism is one of those niches that offers the opportunity for development both to the country and to the city. “We see this exponential growth over the last decades globally and also in Chisinau. In fact, the first discussion on medical tourism was held at the Economic Forum only two years ago, when I warned the population and partners about this opportunity for development and investment in the city, where I set and foresaw those four areas that can be developed in the municipality and I’m glad that they are part of those dimensions with prospects that require investments and that can be developed. It goes to dentistry, cosmetology, in vitro fertilization and balneo-sanatorium treatment,” stated the deputy mayor.
Emil Ceban, rector of “Nicolae Testemitanu” State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, said that medical tourism is part of what the university does. This year, diplomas will be awarded to 1,000 graduates from 13 countries of the world. The main objective is to train high-quality medical professionals primarily for Moldova’s health system, but also for other countries.
In April this year, at the General Assembly of the Global Healthcare Travel Council that involved over 50 countries, the Republic of Moldova secured a majority of votes and was conferred the title of President of the Global Healthcare Travel Council.
