An announcement on Monday by the Ministry of Health and Population regarding the upcoming launch of Egypt’s national medical tourism platform has sparked confusion over the project’s official branding.
While the ministry’s statement used the name “Tour for Cure,” search engine results reveal a popular, pre-existing Turkish medical tourism platform with the same name. Meanwhile, the body overseeing the project in Egypt has insisted on using the name “Tour4Cure” to prevent intellectual property conflicts.
The Health Ministry announced that it was finalizing preparations to launch the National Platform for Medical Tourism, “Tour for Cure,” in full coordination and cooperation with the National Council for Medical Tourism. According to the statement, the platform’s role includes streamlining reception procedures for medical tourists and providing them with integrated services, as part of the ministry’s efforts to elevate Egypt’s medical tourism sector into a leading national industry.
Amr Sedky, secretary-general of the National Council for Medical Tourism, criticized the phrasing of the ministry’s statement for using the name of the Turkish platform, telling Al Manassa that this was “an error that must be rectified.”
Sedky explained that he was the one responsible for selecting the Egyptian platform’s name, incorporating the symbolism of the number “4” to represent Egypt’s four natural elements used for therapeutic treatment: soil (“sand, silt, and salt”), fresh air (“Ras El-Hekma and Saint Catherine”), water (“sulfur springs”), and abundant medicinal herbs.
Despite the ministry’s statement indicating that the platform would launch soon, the head of the House of Representatives’ Health Committee, Sherif Pasha, cited Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar as saying during a parliamentary hearing on Monday that the platform has already been operating on a “trial basis” over the past few months. During this pilot phase, the platform reportedly received around 250 foreign patients who underwent medical treatments in Egypt.
Pasha told Al Manassa that 40 private medical institutions have joined the platform so far. He added that registration is currently free for facilities licensed by the Health Ministry and the Free Medical Treatment Directorate, though officials are considering introducing fees in the future to generate financial resources for the National Council for Medical Tourism.
Pasha also noted that the House Health Committee submitted a series of recommendations to the Health Ministry to ensure that the visa acquisition process does not become an obstacle to the platform’s success, pointing out that citizens from certain nationalities face long wait times to obtain entry visas to Egypt.
In response, the committee recommended streamlining procedures, particularly for patients holding valid visas to the Schengen Area, the United States, or the United Kingdom.
However, in response to these recommendations, the Health Ministry emphasized the need to refer the proposal to the relevant security agencies for review and assessment.
The Health Ministry requested that parliament speed up the passage of legislation regulating medical tourism and defining oversight and licensing requirements. Pasha confirmed that there is a legislative push within parliament to reintroduce a draft law previously submitted in 2015 by Sedky, the current secretary-general of the National Council for Medical Tourism, back when he served as the head of the House Tourism Committee. The bill was never discussed in a general parliamentary session at the time.
According to Sedky, the upcoming draft law aims to establish a legal framework linking hospitals to therapeutic destinations, allowing attending physicians to monitor a patient’s health status throughout their treatment and recovery journey.
Sedky added that the bill would also establish a licensing mechanism for therapeutic service practitioners, designate the specific regulatory body responsible for oversight, and define the legal and administrative responsibilities of all parties involved in providing the service to ensure the quality of care and protect patient rights.
