BUENOS AIRES – The Argentine government on Monday launched a plan to promote “medical tourism,” whereby it hopes to attract visitors who divide their stays between getting medical treatment or operations and sightseeing.

To get the initiative under way, the National Institute for the Tourist Promotion of Argentina, or Inprotur, struck accords with a score of medical facilities that will offer lodging and tourist visits to patients from abroad.

“We’re also taking to the different fairs around the world (a program) with prestigious medical professionals, latest-generation technology available in the country, personalized attention and comfort, added to unique tourist attractions,” Tourism Secretary Enrique Meyer said during the presentation of the plan.

The government of Cristina Fernandez launched the program after – over the past few years – some clinics began offering plans combining treatment with trips to the country’s main tourist locations, like Iguazu Falls or the gigantic Perito Moreno Glacier.

These programs have attracted numerous customers over the past few years who have taken advantage of the low prices in the South American country compared with the costs of a European or U.S. holiday, a circumstance that is due to the devaluation of the peso which has been in place since 2002.

Most of the patients come to Argentina to undergo cosmetic surgery, although there are also people who come for medically necessary operations, while many childless couples come seeking fertility treatments.

“This work, which seeks to promote Argentine medicine abroad, will be adopted as a state policy that should remain in place over time, obtaining good income for our country with an activity that generates $60 billion annually worldwide,” Meyer said.

The Medicine Argentina program includes stays in luxury hotels, as well as “a great variety of tourist and cultural attractions,” according to an Inprotur communique.

With the initiative, the government also is seeking to reverse the dropoff in tourism to the country because of the effects of the global recession and the swine flu epidemic.

In August, the number of foreign visitors had dropped by 31.8 percent compared with the year before, according to a government report released last week.

With income of $3.36 billion in 2008, tourism was the country’s third-largest source of foreign currency. EFE