Boom in medical tourism to Tashkent from neighbouring countries?
Tashkent says medical tourism is booming as a result of an influx of people from neighbouring countries: Dushanbe has challenged the figures
15.10.2024
Article published on the rus.azattyq.org website
Uzbekistan says it has become a major destination for medical tourism for Tajiks and many other Central Asians who are looking for better quality and more affordable treatment.
Ranokhon Burkhonova is recovering from cataract surgery to correct problems with her vision. There are many hospitals in her native Tajikistan that offer this procedure, which is considered a fairly routine operation, but despite this, the 59 year-old former nurse from the country’s Sughd region chose to travel to neighbouring Uzbekistan.
“I paid around $800 for the operation in Tashkent at the end of September”, she said. “Prices in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are roughly the same but for me the major difference was the quality of service”.
Burkhonova said that she had “lost trust” in doctors back home after numerous reports of misdiagnoses and medical negligence. “I’m not saying we don’t have any good doctors in Tajikistan but I didn’t want to take any chances with my eyesight”. She plans to return to Tashkent in six weeks’ time for a post-operative assessment with an ophthalmologist.
Uzbekistan has become a popular medical tourist destination for many middle-income Tajiks and citizens from other neighbouring Central Asian countries in search of better and more affordable treatment. Some patients are looking for specialist medical care which is not available in their own country. According to official Uzbekistan figures, 57,380 Tajiks travelled to Uzbekistan for treatment between January and August, a 100% increase on the same period last year (28,600).
Tajik patients started to become more aware of the availability of private medicine in Uzbekistan in 2018 when Tashkent introduced a three-month, visa-free system for its Central Asian neighbours. Medical tourism has also flourished again in recent years following the lifting of Covid restrictions.
Affordable prices for accommodation and food, the absence of bureaucratic hurdles and language barriers have all made Uzbekistan an even more attractive proposition to patients from neighbouring states.
Most Tajiks seeking medical care in Uzbekistan are middle-class people who can afford to make several trips for consultations, treatment and follow-up appointments. Wealthier citizens can usually choose hospitals and clinics in China, Iran and Russia.
Nazokat, a 48 year-old Tajik patient, who did not want to give her last name for privacy reasons, travels to Tashkent every three months so a doctor can monitor her recovery.
Nazokat was diagnosed with stage 4 liver fibrosis in Uzbekistan last November. A hospital in Tajikistan had earlier failed to detect the problem, which stemmed from a history of hepatitis C. “In Tajikistan, I underwent a successful six-month treatment that killed the virus but afterwards still felt unwell. My family advised me to see doctors in Tashkent – a decision that saved my life”, she said.
Dushanbe disputes Uzbekistan’s statistics
Tajik authorities do not accept Uzbekistan’s medical tourism figures, which show a steady increase in the number of Tajiks exploring treatment opportunities abroad.
When Tashkent published statistics of those travelling to Uzbekistan for health reasons in 2023 (43,200), Dushanbe rejected the figures, calling them “impossible”.
In responding to the numbers, Tajikistan’s Health Minister, Jamoliddin Abdullozoda, said “This figure does not reflect reality – it was derived from border crossing point records”. He argued that many people who cross the frontier say they are doing so for medical treatment, perhaps to avoid further questions, even if it isn’t true.
The Health Minister also said that his country has a good healthcare system, with 896,600 patients in hospital last year, around 314,800 of whom have undergone surgery. However, many Tajiks complain about a shortage of specialists outside major cities as thousands of doctors have moved to Russia in recent years in search of better salaries.
A regional hub
The Uzbek Government supports medical tourism as part of its tourist industry.
In 2019, the Government introduced a simplified system to enable foreigners to obtain medical visas. Official tourism websites promote Uzbek hospitals and sanitoria to attract foreign patients.
In addition to Tajiks who make up the majority of foreign patients, thousands of citizens from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Russia have all benefitted statistically from medical care in Uzbekistan.
According to Uzbek Government data, 8,542 Kazakhs, 6,704 Kyrgyz, 1,299 Russians and 672 Turkmen travelled to Uzbekistan for treatment from January to August this year. These figures show an increase compared to the same period last year when the number of Kazakh and Russian patients totalled 7,200 and 800 respectively. The number of medical tourists from Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan has also risen two-fold.
