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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Political stability and the availability of quality medical service, including modern hospitals and trained and qualified human resources, have turned Jordan into the number one medical tourism destination in the Arab region, Health Minister Ali Heyasat said Saturday.

He told the opening session of the Fourth International Medical Tourism Conference, titled "The Future of Medical Tourism", that a total of 64 private hospitals that had earned national accreditation, including nine internationally-accredited hospitals, are currently operating in the Kingdom at competitive prices along with international peers.

Also during his opening address, which he delivered on behalf of Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Heyasat cited the Kingdom's other major therapeutic resorts and facilities, mainly at the Dead Sea and the Maain Spa.

"The convening of the conference in Jordan is due to its available resources that have helped it to acquire a unique position in the medical tourism field, and the advanced level and distinctive services the Kingdom's health sector offers at the regional and international levels," added the minister.

He also told the conference, which drew 300 participants from Jordan and 28 other countries from around the world, that the government has adopted a package of measures to upgrade medical tourism though creating an investor-friendly environment.

The minister said updated investment legislation had recently been passed, granting incentives and other exemptions to those willing to invest in the hospital construction industry, in addition to the launch of the one-stop-shop and passage of a law to control research and therapy using human stem cells derived from embryos, the first such technique in the Arab world.

Heyasat also said Jordan is a leader in organ transplants and said that new regulations have been introduced for donations of body parts and transplants.

The conference chairman, President of the Private Hospitals Association, Fawzi Hamouri, said Jordan had become the first choice for patients from the Middle East and North Africa, having won the Medical Destination of the year award at the 2014 International Medical Travel Conference in Dubai.