Cuba attracts tourists who come for health or medical purposes. Many resort hotels have doctors on site or on call. There are international clinics at large resorts. They can be found in Havana, Veradero, Santa Lucia and other popular locations. There is a special department of hospitals in the country specifically for the treatment of foreigners and diplomats.

Accreditation of hospitals in Cuba

Hospitals are adapting to welcoming foreign visitors by hiring English-speaking staff and creating new technologies for treatment. Today, Cuba offers access to more than 20 hospital centers specifically created for international patients. Most hospitals are certified to ISO 14001, which stands for the international standard for hygiene, safety and environment, and ISO 9001, which ensures quality control. Located in Havana, the Serra Garcia Central Clinic is a pioneer in medical tourism and is fully equipped with appropriate infrastructure such as operating rooms, laboratories and intensive care units.

A key factor that helps foreign patients choose Cuba is affordability.

Foreign patients travel to Cuba for a wide range of treatments, including eye surgery, neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, cosmetic surgery, addiction treatment, retinitis pigmentosa and orthopedics. The majority of patients are from Latin America, Europe and Canada, with an increasing number of Americans.

If you are a foreigner and are interested in any treatment in medical centers in Cuba, there are three options for visiting the country:

• The first option requires you to go from your country to the health care facility where you want to be treated, depending on the illness. When contacting a health care facility, you, as a patient, must provide information about your illness and, if possible, send a summary of your clinical history, including the symptoms you have, previous treatment, surgical procedures, test results. This will allow the institution to evaluate your case. Once the facility has evaluated your case, they will send you a treatment proposal and budget for it. If you approve the budget proposed by the Institution, it will go through the Ministry of Health of Cuba https://salud.msp.gob.cu/language/en/ before the official processing of the application for the D-10 visa, which is granted by Cuba to foreigners, who enter the country for the purpose of receiving treatment in official medical centers.
• The second option is to enter Cuba on a tourist visa, which allows you to stay up to 30 days with the option of extending for another 30. During this stay, you can contact the health care facility where you wish to receive treatment and the authorized personnel will immediately proceed to change your immigration status with the Office of Identification, Immigration and Aliens Visiting Cuba.
• A third option is to process the request through SERVIMED, the body that is legally responsible for receiving medical care in Cuba. This organization belongs to the Cuban medical services marketing company CSMC SA. This portal provides access to information about health centers, medical programs, pharmacies, and opticians. The government is interested in facilitating access to medical services for foreigners. In addition to the cost of the medical package, this organization charges a small administration fee to arrange travel for its patients. Please note that plane tickets will be an additional cost.

There are only medical restrictions for travelers coming from countries where yellow fever and cholera are endemic or have been declared by the World Health Organization as areas of infection. In this case, it is necessary to present an international vaccination certificate.