On July 24, the Dominican Republic Senate held an extraordinary legislative session to advance a key piece of economic development legislation, giving initial approval to a bill that would establish the National Council for the Development of Health Tourism, known by its Spanish acronym Condetusa. The proposed advisory body is designed to bring structured governance to the Caribbean nation’s fast-expanding health tourism sector, balancing targeted promotion with clear regulatory guardrails.
The bill was put forward by Senator Daniel Rivera of the Santiago province, a lawmaker who brings deep sectoral expertise to the proposal from his prior tenure as the country’s health minister. At its core, the legislation aims to formally position health tourism as a national development priority, while laying out a formal institutional structure to lift industry standards. Specifically, the framework would codify new requirements for quality assurance, patient safety protocols, and official certification for providers treating international patients seeking medical care in the country.
Notably, this marked Rivera’s second push to pass similar health tourism reform in less than a year. Back in April 2025, the Senate already approved a nearly identical piece of legislation on first reading, but no public documentation exists to explain whether that earlier bill failed to advance to a required second reading, was pulled by sponsors, or has been consolidated into this new proposal. The current iteration also marks a targeted shift in scope from the 2025 draft: while the original bill sought to create a broad, overarching legal framework for regulating the entire national health tourism industry, the new proposal centers its efforts exclusively on standing up Condetusa, which will take on responsibilities for cross-stakeholder coordination and policy advocacy for the sector.
With first reading complete, the bill now moves into the next stage of the Dominican legislative process, where it will face additional debate and possible amendments before it can be signed into law. If enacted, industry analysts expect the new council to help streamline growth in the health tourism sector, which has become an increasingly important contributor to the Dominican Republic’s service economy in recent years.