More than 21 mln foreigners come to Russia for medical assistance over past 5 years - deputy health minister

MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - The flow of foreign tourists coming to Russia to receive medical assistance increased more than fivefold over the past five years, and their number has reached 21.5 million people, Russian Deputy Health Minister Yevgenia Kotova said.

"Our country has been a point of attraction of residents of other states, who come to receive medical assistance in Russia, for five years," Kotova said at a Wednesday meeting with the heads of the diplomatic missions of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

"The flow of foreign tourists who came to receive medical assistance increased more than fivefold over the past five years," she said.

More than 21.5 million foreigners came to Russia for medical assistance in this period, she said. The most frequent and in-demand areas are oncology, traumatology and orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, neurosurgery and cardiovascular surgery, she said. These are just the largest areas. "There were many more reasons to seek medical assistance," Kotova said.