Zimpapers Logo

MEDICAL specialists in the Diaspora should return home and tap into the investment opportunities that the Government is providing in the tourism sector, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Tourism and Hospitality Minister Barbra Rwodzi said this at the Scholastic Tourism Conference which took place on the sidelines of the main Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo 2024 running from September 11-13 at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre in Bulawayo.

The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development hosted the conference under the theme “Leveraging Heritage Based Education 5.0 for the Development of Tourism and Hospitality in Zimbabwe” to support youth in academia and expose their ideas to the tourism community.

One of the key outputs of the initiative is to ensure a sustainable fusion of Heritage Based Education 5.0 with tourism to boost tourism through innovation and enterprise development.

Minister Babra Rwodzi

Minister Rwodzi told delegates, including students from universities, that people outside tourism can also play a role in the development of the sector by using their specialised skills, citing an example of medical tourism.

Medical tourism most often is for specialised surgeries (cosmetic or otherwise) or similar treatments, although people also travel for dental tourism or fertility tourism.

“That is the reason why we clustered tourism. We are here with the permanent secretary for Health and Child Care and someone will wonder what he is doing here. It is because we have medical tourism and we want to grow the sector.

“Right now, we are having thorough conversations between our Ministry and our counterparts in the Health Ministry to see how the Emirates Flights can have enough business to land directly from Dubai to Victoria Falls.

“It won’t happen unless there is a 100-bed hospital with a theatre in Victoria Falls. This is how we connect; that’s why the Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development is also sitting here. It’s about connectivity,” she said.

Minister Barbra Rwodzi 

Minister Rwodzi urged medical specialists in the Diaspora to establish a medical tourism facility in the country.

“Anyone who has trained in medicine can start a medical tourism facility and we are encouraging all the doctors, particularly specialists in the Diaspora, to come to the facility we are planning in Victoria Falls.

“I am sure we are on the verge now, sometime next year we will be groundbreaking a hospital in Masuwe in Mosi-O-Tunya. So, if Emirates wants a 100-bed with a theatre for their emergencies, we will have it,” she said.

Minister Rwodzi pointed out that if Victoria Falls hosts a Cardiology Specialist Hospital, people from across the world will flock to the city for treatment, boosting the tourism industry.

“You come for treatment but you also receive therapy when you visit Great Zimbabwe. When people go to India or China with their relatives for treatment that’s medical tourism because they are going to spend money on medicals in another country where they will eat, sleep and stay.

“This means people within that industry are involved in tourism. People in wildlife were trained in wildlife management but in the end, the tourism sector will benefit as a whole from their expertise,” she said. – New Ziana.