Senate advances bill to create Dominican Republic health tourism council

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic Senate has approved on first reading a bill to create the National Council for the Development of Health Tourism (Condetusa), an advisory body aimed at promoting and regulating the country’s growing health tourism sector.

The proposal, introduced by Santiago Senator Daniel Rivera, a former health minister, seeks to declare health tourism a national priority and establish an institutional framework to strengthen the industry through quality, safety, and certification standards for international patients.

The initiative marks Rivera’s second attempt to advance similar legislation. In April 2025, the Senate also approved on first reading a separate bill with nearly identical goals, but there is no public record that it advanced to a second reading, was withdrawn, or merged with the new proposal.

Unlike the earlier bill, which sought a broader legal framework for regulating health tourism nationwide, the current initiative focuses on creating Condetusa as an advisory council responsible for coordinating and promoting policies for the sector.

The bill was approved during an extraordinary Senate session on July 24 and now awaits further legislative debate before becoming law.