Medical tourism set to become a $2 bn industry

Growing at the rate of 25 per cent a year, medical tourism is on track to become a two billion dollars industry in another five years.
An estimated 1,50,000 patients arrived in 2004 from across the globe from USA, UK, Middle East, Africa and SAARC countries for medical treatment in India, according to official figures.
In the same year, medical tourism was a 333 million dollar strong market and the ministry said given its growth rate of 25 per cent it will emerge as a two billion dollars market in 2012.
"A patient opting for medical tourism not only gets the best medical treatment the Indian doctors have to offer, but also as a post-treatment fare, he or she gets to see the best of India's destinations," Leena Nandan, Joint Secretary (Tourism), said.
The tourism ministry is also giving a big push to medical tourism highlighting its low-cost advantages. Nandan said, "Just like the IT expertise of India, the medical expertise of country too is well recognised abroad. And eventually this too translates into tourism in India."
Tourism ministry sources said the potential of medical tourism is borne out of the fact that there has been an increase of 20 per cent of arrivals of tourists to avail medical treatment in the country.
As part of measures taken by the government to promote this segment is introduction of medical visa which is issued for a specific purpose to such foreign tourists.
This visa is initially issued to a patient with a companion for a period of one year and can be extended upto three years after fulfilling certain conditions and recommendations from the accredited medical authorities.
In 'New York Times Travel Show' in February this year this segment was promoted through a session organised by India Tourism Office, New York, Indian High Commission and CII to promote Indian healthcare services and invite investment in India.
The Ministry also participated at the World Travel Mart(WTM) 2006 in London in November last year and at International Tourism Bourse (ITB) at Berlin in March this year to promote India in a big way as the new emerging healthcare destination and disseminate information on "Medical Value Travel."

Ministry sources said the response was positive. A lot of queries were generated from the potential tourists, medical tourism companies, health insurance companies, travel and tour operators.

A leader in medical tourism

After living with pain for nearly 15 years, Russell Cole, 62, travelled from California to Mumbai last November to have three joints operated — knees and right hip — at the L H Hiranandani Hospital. Cole, who suffered from severe arthritis, paid Rs 6 lakh for the surgeries that would have cost him over Rs 25 lakh in the States.
Three weeks later, he was back on his feet and on the way home. “I would definitely recommend India to my friends who have been putting off orthopaedic surgeries for years because they can’t afford it,” Cole said.
George Marshal, a retired policeman, underwent an angiography in the UK. But when he was put on an eight-month waiting list for surgery, Marshal decided to get his operation done at Wockhardt Hospital, Bangalore. The operation was conducted last year and he is doing well.
In 2005, an estimated 1,75,000 patients travelled to India for medical care. Thailand and Singapore are other popular medical tourism haunts.
“That number is growing by 30-35 per cent every year,” says Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Group of Hospitals. Wockhardt gets roughly 900 overseas patients every year at its Mumbai and Bangalore facilities.
Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, in that order, are the major hubs for standard surgical procedures, comprising about 70 per cent of the total medical tourism revenue. South India, Kerala in particular, gets top billing among those looking for alternative therapies, such as Ayurveda, that make up the rest of the revenue pie.
From an excruciatingly long wait for diagnostic and surgical procedures in some countries to skyrocketing medical costs elsewhere, the reasons why India is attracting overseas patients in the thousands are many.
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Indian Government set up task force on medical healthcare tourism

Government has set up a task force on medical tourism which will suggest measures to promote India as a healthcare destination, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said here today.
"The task force under the chairmanship of Director General of Health Services will assess the opportunities for promoting India as health destination," Ramadoss said at the ASSOCHAM Conference on Health Tourism.
The task force would work in an inter-ministerial approach with inputs from various ministries such as tourism, external affairs, railways and civil aviation, he said, adding it would come out with the report soon.
In a bid to standardise the healthcare services, a pre-requisite to attract foreign patients, the government was working on a Clinical Establishment Act which would make registration of all hospitals and diagnostic facilities compulsory, the minister said.
He said India was now getting patients even from the developed world due to high cost of treatment there.
"While Cuba has promoted medical tourism through its marketing network, Thailand has focused on superior consumer experiences and brand equity. South Africa specialises in medical safaris," he said, adding there was a need to evolve imaginative packages given country's rich cultural heritage and places of scenic beauty and architectural interests.
To rationalise the flow of tourist traffic, the Ministry of Home Affairs had introduced a new category of visa called "medical visa" which can be given for specific purpose of medical treatment, he said.

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