The government of Kenya is putting forward measures to promote the east Africa country as a medical tourism destination of choice.
This was revealed during the presentations at the inaugural Kenya Healthcare Convention that ran from March 9 to March 10, 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The convention, organized by Express Communication Limited, in partnership with Amref Health Africa, KenInvest, Glissan Medical services and others, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council, Council of Governors and the Kenya Healthcare Federation, brought together over 350 industry players.
“Among other outcomes, the Kenya Healthcare Convention is expected to set in motion formation of a multi-agency, government-industry partnership to promote Kenya for medical tourism, as well as Wellness Tourism Policy,” said Samwel Masara, the Chief Executive Officer for Express Communication Limited, an organizer of the event.
Speaking on the first day of the event, Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta added that the government of Kenya was ready and working to make sure that affordable healthcare was delivered to all so that Kenyans would not travel abroad to seek it.
“It is estimated that more than 10 000 Kenyans travel abroad annually in pursuit of medical treatment, spending at least 10 billion Kenyan shillings,” said the President.
Adding on, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Mutahi Kagwe said to avoid losing people to other medical tourism destinations abroad like India, the cost of healthcare in Kenya is supposed to be less or equal to that offered in those destinations.
“The Ministry of Health Kenya is to create a directorate focused on digital health to increase efficiencies and improve the quality of health,” added CS Kagwe.
According to the presentation by H.E Kenyatta, Kenya is among the top six destinations visited by African nationals seeking specialized medical service whilst according to statistics presented by Afroturism.com, Kenya is one of the leading African destinations that people flock to to receive medical attention. Other African countries that are top medical tourism destinations include Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and South Africa.
The east African country offers almost 80 to 90 percent of medical and surgical procedures carried out elsewhere in the world.
