48% of the patients came from Eastern Europe.
Medical tourism in Israel will total NIS 160 million this year, compared with NIS 100-110 million in 2007, according to a study by The Center for Academic Studies at Or Yehuda. Most treatments are for foreign tourists carried out at Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital), and Tel Hashomer Medical Center.
The study polled 100 patients at the hospitals. It found that 48% of the patients came from Eastern Europe, mostly Russia and Ukraine; 37% came from Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey, the Palestinian Authority, and other neighboring countries; and 14% came the US and Western Europe. 65% of the patients came to Israel for complex or risky surgical treatments and 35% came for various cosmetic treatments. The economic crisis is expected to reduce the number of cosmetic surgical treatments of foreign patients in 2009.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 1, 2008
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