The World Bank medical tourism experts ranked Jordan number one in the Arab region and the fifth in the world as a medical tourism hub, local daily The Jordan Times reported on Monday.

Fawzi Hammouri, President of the country's Private Hospital Association (PHA) was quoted as saying "Jordan is the only country in the Middle East that generates more income than what it spends on health."

Jordan's medical tourism revenues in 2007 exceeded 1 billion U. S. dollars, he added.

According to a study prepared by the PHA, over 250,000 patients from around 84 Arab and foreign countries were treated in Jordanian private hospitals, clinics and medical centers last year.

Iraqi patients treated by Jordan's private medical sector amounted to 45,000 in 2007, while Palestinians and Sudanese trailed with around 25,000 patients from each country.

The study also shows that more than 1,800 U.S. citizens, 1,200 British citizens and 400 Canadian citizens sought medical treatment in the kingdom last year.

Hammouri noted that treatment expenditures in Jordan are only 25 percent of the cost in the U.S., which include airline tickets and the patient's stay in addition to sight-seeing tours.

(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2008)