The Dominican Institute for Quality, INDOCAL, announced the availability of a Technical Standard for Medical Tourism, which defines quality criteria for the sector’s value chain, in order to guarantee best practices and the safety of patients and their families, promoting protocols and standards that will increase confidence in the country as a destination for the provision of healthcare services.
INDOCAL CEO Lorenzo Ramirez said that NORDOM ISO 22525:2020, approved by the Dominican Council for Quality, CODOCA, provides a holistic approach to healthcare at all stages of the patient experience.
Ramirez reported that this standard, aligned with national development goals, was accompanied by an exhaustive consultative process by INDOCAL’s Technical Committee on Tourism, made up of experts from the Ministry of Tourism (MITUR), the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), the Dominican Association of Health Tourism (ADTS), the Association of Hotels and Tourism (ASONAHORES) and other entities, reaching a consensus to promote it, to favor the safety of this thriving niche market.
In assessing the initiative, Dr. Alejandro Cambiaso, president of the ADTS, commented that NORDOM ISO 22525 for medical tourism is based on compliance with the local standards of authorization and accreditation of the Ministry of Public Health, the regulatory standards of the Ministry of Tourism and, in addition, specialized international ISO standards for medical tourism, which have been validated by dozens of countries, which represents a great step forward.
Cambiaso affirmed that these standards do not replace international accreditations, but rather complement and enhance each other, allowing us as a country to aspire to the development of a culture of quality and compliance in the health sector.
The voluntary ISO-identical standard can be applied to all organizations involved in medical tourism, including healthcare providers, plastic surgery centers, dentistry, tour operators, medical facilitators, hotels and specialized recovery centers.
Source: Elcaribe.com
