Demographic Study of Medical Tourism in Yazd Province, Iran in 2012

Travelling for medical care is a historical phenomenon. Medical tourism grows very fast in not only developed nations but in developing countries too. Iran has a suitable potent due to spas, dessert, infertility centers, dentistry and etc. Yazd is a central province in Iran where has a suitable potential as treatment in Persian Gulf domain. In this way, it can be effective on improving treatment service to patient in addition to fundraising and development of tourism industrial. The aim of this study is investigation of demography of medical tourism in Yazd, Iran. This study is descriptive cross-sectional. The study was on refer participates who were expatriates to Yazd medical centers in 2012. In order to reliability, 30 questionnaires were distributed and collected and Cronbach's Alfa Coefficient was calculated which it was 0.86 and were collected at discharge and then questionnaires were recorded and analyzed. In this study, 8109 patients referred. The mean age was 41.65 ± 14.56. The result revealed that more females travelled to Yazd for medical tourism than male. The age was between 18-80 years. The results of this study showed that the most of patients are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, respectively. The most reason of reference is surgery or treatment of heart and infertility. The most common of reason for select of medical center is insurance causes, low cost and high quality, respectively. According to this study, due to medical potential, especially in infertile and also cardiac surgery, Yazd Province can be known as a tourism center in Iran and Persian Gulf domain.