To accept patients from Oman to Fars province and provide services to these medical tourists, there are plans to establish a company with the shareholdings of five province’s IPD certified hospitals in Oman, ISNA quoted Sohrab Sharafi as saying on Sunday.

The province is currently hosting a large percentage of Omani health tourists, but if this project is implemented, it would be able to host more patients from other Persian Gulf countries, including Qatar and Kuwait, the official added.

Fars province has great potential in medical tourism, but it needs a specific brand to attract more patients, he noted.

Back in June, the province’s deputy governor-general Mohammad Farrokhzadeh announced that the number of international travelers who received medical services in Fars province’s hospitals hit a record high during the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year.

The number of medical travelers to Fars jumped 250 percent and 550 percent respectively in Farvardin (Mar. 21-Apr. 20) and Ordibehesht (Apr.21-May 21) in comparison to the same months last year, he said.

“It is an unprecedented record of its kind,” the official said.

According to statistics, hospitals of Fars province admitted 10,500 foreign medical travelers and received some 5,000 international outpatients last year (ended Mar. 20), he mentioned.