Vitebsk region intends to earn Br15 billion from medical tourism in 2011.

September 17, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Medical tourism is gaining momentum in the Vitebsk region. In the near future, a tourist bureau for organizing tours for foreign patients will start operating on the basis of the 2nd Vitebsk Regional Clinical Hospital, the head of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Healthcare Department, Yury Derkach, told a BELTA correspondent. Currently, the clinic has created a register of medical services provided in the Vitebsk region and in demand among residents of the border regions of the Russian Federation, Lithuania, and Latvia. Work is being completed to obtain a license for providing tourist services, and agreements are being concluded with foreign insurance companies on referring patients for treatment. Marketing research is being conducted in neighboring countries, and an advertising campaign for the region's medical institutions and the services they provide has been launched. As Yury Derkach noted, thanks to state support, the region's medical institutions have significantly updated their material and technical base, acquired a lot of modern diagnostic and treatment equipment, and doctors have mastered the latest treatment technologies that were previously used only in scientific and practical centers. Thus, a base has been created in the region for hospitals and polyclinics to develop export of medical services and earn funds for further development of the medical industry beyond normative social standards. The main goal of the medical tourism bureau being created is to attract foreign patients for treatment and organize their comfortable stay. By the end of 2011, the Healthcare Department plans to earn Br15 billion from the export of medical services. According to the head of the department, the economists' calculations are realistic. For the first 8 months of the current year alone, the growth rate of medical service exports in the region was 200%, and medical workers have already earned Br1 billion. Foreigners most often seek help from cardiologists, proctologists, dentists, and obstetrician-gynecologists. Residents of the border regions of Smolensk and Pskov regions increasingly prefer to be monitored and give birth in Vitebsk. The growth rate of service exports in maternity hospital No. 1 for the first 8 months was 500%, Yury Derkach stated. Foreigners are attracted by the qualifications of Belarusian doctors, the quality of medical services, and their reasonable cost. The profitability of services for foreign patients reaches 150%. Given the demand of foreigners for certain types of medical care, the Healthcare Department intends to put rehabilitation centers for patients with heart and lung diseases into operation in Braslav, Barani (Orsha district), and Postavy in the first quarter of 2011 after repairs. For the first time in the region, district dental clinics, also designed to receive foreign patients, will start operating in Glubokoye and Postavy. -0-