Medical Tourism Generates Economic Benefits for Tanzania

Posted on : Tuesday , 5th May 2026

In an effort to boost the health sector's contribution to the country's economy, the Tanzanian government is still putting strategic measures into place to encourage medical tourism in the country.

During the 13th Parliament, Third Meeting, Fourth Sitting in Dodoma, Deputy Minister for Health Florence Samizi made this statement in response to a query from Special Seats Member of Parliament Catherine Canute Joachim.

Dr. Samizi responded on behalf of Health Minister Mohamed Mchengerwa, pointing out that the government continues to make investments in enhancing hospital infrastructure under President Samia Suluhu Hassan's leadership, which has included building new facilities and renovating existing ones in order to improve service delivery capacity.

In order to guarantee that services reach international standards, she added, the government is boosting professional training for healthcare personnel and increasing access to cutting-edge medical equipment like PET/CT scans, Angio Suite, Cathlab and CT scan technologies.

According to Dr. Samizi, "the government is also introducing new super-specialized services and ensuring hospitals obtain international accreditation while promoting them in global markets to attract foreign patients." 

The data shows that 3,018 foreign patients got specialized medical care in regional, zonal, specialized and national referral hospitals between July 2025 and February 2026.

In order to improve service quality and bolster the capacity of medical facilities across the country, the government also makes investments in human resources through the Samia Health Super-specialization Program, which sponsors 1,483 professionals to pursue specialist and super-specialist training both domestically and overseas.