Growing Medical Tourism in India

Suhasini Gupta

Medical Tourism has become a buzzword today. Medical tourism is the go-to keyword phrase for internet searches and advertising campaigns. This term has become a famous consumer-driven search term. Though travelling to foreign countries for health benefits is not a new concept, this word has gained more momentum in the last decades. With the advent of globalization and culture of consumerism, people  have started travelling from one place to another  so that they can use  variety of choices available to them that can bring satisfaction as well as healthy and sound living. Now a day’s people are more aware of the importance of health. They are conscious in maintaining a healthy body, mind and soul. People visit tourism destinations normally for leisure and recreation. The purpose of visiting a tourism destination may vary depending upon the nature and interests of tourists. Hence tourism destinations design variety of tourism products so as to cater the needs of tourists having different interests. Health tourism is a niche tourism developed by the competing tourism promoting countries in order to attract people travelling with the prime purpose of getting healthcare.
This term has been used by travel agencies as well as mass media to describe the rapidly growing  practice of travelling  abroad to obtain hi-quality healthcare facilities. Health tourism is also known as medical tourism, wellness tourism, healthcare travel or medical value travel. Medical tourism or health care tourism is the fast growing multibillion dollar industry across the globe. Medical tourism is an economic activity that includes trading of services and mixing of two world’s largest industries- medicine and tourism. Thus, it involves a combination of resources of healthcare as well as tourism. Medical tourism is mainly promoted by big corporate hospitals in developing countries. These hospitals provide hi-tech medical facilities to patients from industrialized nations at cheap price. Medical value travel is becoming one of the most preferred vacationing as it covers a broad spectrum of healthcare and it mixes leisure, fun, recreation together with wellness and healthcare.
Within Asia, India, Thailand and Singapore are the three countries that receive maximum medical tourists owing to low cost of treatment, strong reputation in the advanced healthcare segment (cardiovascular surgery, organ transplants, eye surgery etc.), quality healthcare infrastructure, and availability of highly-skilled doctors. India is placed among the top three medical tourism destinations in Asia. There is a wide variety of tourist destination available in India. The major problems which is being faced by this industry includes absence of initiative by Government, no uniform pricing policies, lack of coordinated effort to promote this industry etc. Healthcare industry in India has emerged as one of the largest service sectors.
Medical Tourism is the growing sector of our economy. Medical tourism is the travel of people to a place other than where they normally reside for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment in that country. Traditionally, people would travel from less-developed countries to major medical centers in highly developed countries for medical treatment that was unavailable in their own communities. Some people travel to obtain medical surgeries or other treatments. In October 2015, India’s medical tourism sector was estimated to be worth US$3 billion. It is projected to grow to $7-8 billion by 2020. According to the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), the primary reason that attracts medical value travel to India is cost-effective, and treatment from accredited facilities at par with developed countries at much lower cost. The Medical Tourism Market Report: 2015 found that India was “one of the lowest cost and highest quality of all medical tourism destinations, it offers wide variety of procedures at about one-tenth the cost of similar procedures in the United States”. Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and the National Capital Region received the highest number of foreign patients primarily from South Eastern countries.
The most popular treatments that are sought in India by medical tourists are eye surgery, bone marrow transplant, cardiac surgery etc. Though the patients coming from abroad have to spend money on transportation, accommodation, for undergoing treatment etc but these charges are relatively less as compared to the money that is to be spent if a patient has to undergo a treatment in US, UK etc.  If we use US costs across a variety of specialties and procedures as a benchmark, average range of savings for the most traveled destinations is – for Brazil , the cost savings is about 20-30%, for Malaysia, cost savings is about 65-80% , for India, it is about 65-90% and for Taiwan, the cost that can be saved is about  40-55%. India is known mostly for its cost-effective medical treatments along with high standards in cardiology, orthopedics, nephrology, oncology and neuro surgery. The country is also known for its alternative treatment options such as yoga and ayurveda.
However, for a patient travelling to India, it is necessary that he/ she should find optimal doctor- hospital combination. After the treatment has been done, the patient has option to recover from illness either in the hospitals or the accommodations available nearby hospitals. There are various hospitals that provide the facility of Telemedicine. Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technology to provide clinical health care from a distance. The leading destinations of medical tourism in India are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, New Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra. Heart care has become a specialty in India, with centers such as Fortis Wockhardt (Mumbai) and Apollo (New Delhi and Chennai) leading the way. Chennai is known as “India’s health capital”. Healthcare in Chennai is provided by both government-run and private hospitals. Chennai attracts about 45 percent of health tourists from abroad  and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists The city has been termed India’s health capital. Multi- and super-specialty hospitals across the city bring in an estimated 150 international patients every day. Factors behind the tourists’ inflow in the city include low costs, little to no waiting period and facilities offered at the speciality hospitals in the city.
While India scores over other countries in certain parameters like affordable hotels, cultural adaptability, there is still a long way to go. To make India the most preferred destination for medical care there is a need to improve air connectivity, food options, cultural adaptability, language interpreters, affordable accommodation and less waiting time at airport, as these parameters help patients make a decision in choosing a destination for medical travel.
(The author is Student of M.Sc. Economics in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra)
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