KYIV. Oct 3 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The facilitation of the visa regime, in particular the reduction of terms of considering visas for health tourists by embassies, could increase their inflow to Ukraine by 10%, President of the Ukrainian Association of Medical Tourism Violetta Yanyshevska has said.

"The number of health tourists in Ukraine could grow by 10% if we relax the visa procedure. If we create favorable conditions in other factors, the flow could increase several-fold," she said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

She said that the number of health tourists entering Ukraine in 2016 was around 55,000 patients, including citizens of Israel, Italy, Spain, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Mainly foreign patients travel to Ukraine to receive rehabilitation and dentists' services, plastic surgery, cell therapy, cardiovascular surgeries and treat ophthalmic diseases.