Russia and UAE new medical tourism markets

In an interview with ECO, Salvador de Mello president of Mello Saude says the medical tourism sector in Portugal could be worth €100 million. The private healthcare entrepreneur says meeting demand could be advantageous to the national economy.

Mello says that Portugal needs to work on the country’s reputation in the medical sphere overseas as Portugal is recognised in many health areas but still has to be viewed as a centre of excellence in the medicine area.

Mello Saude has 170 hospitals, universities and centres of pharmaceutics and research. According to Mello, this effort for international projection has already begun with prospection visits in tandem with tourism fairs. The target markets are Russia, the UAE and Europe, particularly Holland and Sweden.

In Portugal’s favour is the high quality of hospital and medical professional infrastructure with hospitals that are some of the best in the world.

To this are added conditions of an agreeable climate and high level of security which make Portugal an attractive destination for health tourism.

At the start of the month, Salvador de Mello said that the numbers pointed to a potential of €100 million with Portugal’s infrastructure more than sufficient to absorb current demand in this growing sector.