Fortifying Medical Tourism in India

Facilitating medical tourism for attracting international patients is just not a piece of cake. The sector is riddled with complexities, and glitches that have to be well managed in order to attract international patients and beat the competitors.

The current size of the market is a whopping 45 million USD with more than ten million people traveling overseas for healing. The sector is growing at a CAGR of 30% in India while the global average is 21.1% and this average will be stable up to the year 2027.  In spite of the pandemic MVT or medical value, tourism is expected to cross 13 billion USD in India.

Without Government support, it is a herculean task to excel in travel and treatment of overseas patients within the country.

What shapes Medical Tourism?

Our cultural ethos accords a Godly Status to overseas visitors. “Atithi Devo Bhava” along with the ancient healing traditions have laid firm roots for value-added health travel and tourism. 

An extensive framework is imperative for delivering quality healthcare, and dispensations play a major role. This calls for a joint approach wherein the public and private sectors jointly propel the initiative. The policy has to be framed at the federal level that governs entry, inland travel, ambiance, and low-cost treatment in the finest medical hospitals and clinics. The support at the state level and that of the private sector is thus crucial. A progressive policy framework that incentivizes various aspects of health care along with tourism has been the case in India, and the approach has paid a rich dividend.  

The latest policy of the Central Indian Government has to frame a draft National Policy that promotes wellness tourism in the country. The road map recognizes the tremendous benefits of attracting overseas patients leading to crucial foreign exchange earnings and providing support to the medical institutions within.  Integrating tourism is a must since both are correlated hence a larger perspective is being considered as a holistic approach.   

The FTAs or foreign tourist arrivals in the country were around 450000 in the pre-pandemic period and with a growth of 40%, the number is expected to touch nearly a million arrivals in the post-pandemic era. The figure also includes visitors arriving for sightseeing and wildlife safaris eventually ending up with scheduled treatments. Most of the arrivals are from Africa, Afghanistan, Maldives, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Oman, and Iraq. But a large number of visitors arriving for wildlife tourism and sightseeing are from the UK, USA, Australia, and EU this number will also seek medical options during their visit while some may arrive purely for treatments and procedures.

Health Infrastructure

The country has a world-class, scalable health ecosystem with considerable funding and encouragement from the Government.  This has proven to boost the activity and the cause is being furthered with a growing number of accredited multispecialty hospitals and clinics. Investment in the latest technologies, skills, and expertise pertaining to new treatment methodology and expertise makes wide spectrum disease treatments available in the country. Quality treatments and successful outcomes are the highlights of medical services in India. The country has 37 JCI-accredited hospitals, and 513 NABH-accredited ones spread all across the country. These establishments are also wide-ranged regards luxury and ambiance hence upscale international patients who seek star facilities have an option. Most of the hospitals delivering the same quality of service including the surgeries are mid-priced while government or public hospitals are much cheaper.

While discussing the health-related travel industry allied sector and diagnostics cannot be neglected. In our country, the allied sector and diagnostics are in a robust state of being. The advanced education and training reflect holistically on the allied sector as well. Patient care is much dependent upon the nursing staff, management, and people in the team that accord state of art service to inpatients as well as outpatients.   

Ease of Travel  

Medical tourists can now avail of e-tourist visa facilities the Government also included medical attendants as well to the facility. Under this sector multiple entries and extended stays are possible.

In the year 2015, NMWTB, or the National Medical and Wellness Tourism Board was constituted. The purpose was to create an institutional framework and promote tourism.   

 The Costly Battle 

At the global level, the battle depends upon the cost. In choosing a destination for impending surgery or health care, people choose on the basis of cost. But nevertheless, other factors are also taken into the consideration. Quality of service, expertise, and travel consideration also matter. Easy availability of visas and extension, economical accommodations, and cheap inland travel all matter.