Medical Tourism: ‘a growing trend’ in Morocco
While medical tourism is well established and very big business in Asia, few people would think of Morocco as a medical tourism destination. That is about to change.
In one particular field of medical tourism Morocco is gaining a positive reputation. In a growing trend, people from all over Europe and as far as the United States are flocking to Morocco for plastic surgery, preferring clinics in the affluent districts of Rabat to the ones they have back home. The prices are around one third of the average prices in Europe and the Moroccan surgeons have a growing reputation for fine work.
The demand is increasing all the time. and according to Professor Salaheddine Slaoui, a plastic surgeon in Rabat, there are currently as many as 1200 cosmetic surgeries per month in Morocco with up to 15 per cent of the clients coming from abroad. Morocco has around 50 plastic surgeons and a dozen cosmetic surgery clinics in the country.
According to recent statistics the most popular procedures are breast enhancement and liposuction. However, unlike many other countries such as Tunisia and Lebanon, only a few of the Moroccan clinics offer packages that include travel, accommodation and the bonus that women can bring their children with them and have them cared for while they have surgery. But the proximity to Europe and the extremely low costs are a huge incentive. It also means that prospective clients can visit a surgery beforehand and make their own assessment of its suitability,
With the success of the plastic surgery sector, it is expected that Morocco may well follow the Asian lead and in the future offer other highly sort after procedures such as major dental treatments.
