Egypt's national carrier EgyptAir signed a deal with the organising firm of the Tour n' Cure medical tourism campaign to provide special offers for tourists seeking treatment for Hepatitis C in the country, which has the world's highest prevalence of the virus, EgyptAir's chairman said on Wednesday.

The new protocol aims to "provide special offers and facilitate and modify ticket bookings for those coming from abroad as part of the Tour n' Cure program," chairman Safwat Musallam said in a statement carried by state news agency MENA.

The Tour n' Cure campaign is a recently-launched initiative to treat Hepatitis C patients from all over the world in Egypt with no waiting time and at a fraction of the usual cost. It runs combined tourism and treatment travel packages for patients visiting the country.

The course of medication required to treat the virus runs for three months. Patients receive their first week of doses in Egypt and complete the rest in their own country, Musallam said. The programme aims to draw 120,000 patients from countries including England, Spain, Italy, France, Russia, Malaysia and Turkey, he added.

Barcelona and Argentina football star Lionel Messi visited Egypt to promote the campaign this week, attending a ceremony on Tuesday as the campaign's guest of honour.

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