Health Tourism in India

bora_priya · Joined: 04 Feb 2007 Posts: 1

What is Medical Tourism ?
India offers World Class Medical Facilities, comparable with any of the western countries. India has state-of-the-art Hospitals and the well qualified doctors. With the best infrastructure, the best possible Medical facilities, accompanied with the most competitive pricing, you can get the treatment done in India at the lowest charges.

There is no doubt that the Indian medical industry's main appeal is low-cost treatment. Most estimates claim treatment costs in India start at around a tenth of the price of comparable treatment in America or Britain. For example, in April Madras Medical Mission, a Chennai-based hospital, successfully conducted a complex heart operation on an 87-year-old American patient at a reported cost of $8,000 (€7,000, £4,850) including the cost of his airfare and a month's stay in hospital. The patient claimed that a less complex operation in America had earlier cost him $40,000. Other procedures such as diagnostic services offer significant cost-savings. The health care sector in India has witnessed an enormous growth in infrastructure in the private and voluntary sector. The list of India Best Hospitals include Apollo, Fortis, Max Healthcare, Escorts, AIIMs, Wockhardt, etc. A few top Medical tourism providers are http://TaMedical.com, http://India4health.com, http://Mediscapes.com and http://Indiaheals.com The private sector which was very modest in the early stages, has now become a flourishing industry equipped with the most modern state-of-the-art technology at its disposal. It is estimated that 75-80% of health care services and investments in India are now provided by the private sector.

The Government is taking serious initiatives in this regards and plans to start overseas marketing of India as a medical tourism destination. The government of India is of the opinion that by marketing India as a global medical tourism destination, it could capitalise on the low-cost, high-quality medical care available in the country.

India, projected as one of the favourite destinations for information technology majors, is currently emerging as the chosen destination for medical or health tourism. The Government of India, State tourism boards, pvt. enterprises, travel agents, tour operators, hotel companies and hospitals are exploring the medical tourism industry for tremendous opportunities. They are seeking to capitalise on the opportunities by leveraging the country's very popular leisure tourism with medical tourism.

Industry projections?
Statistics estimate that the medical tourism industry in India is currently worth approx. $333 million (Rs 1,500 crore) while a study by CII-McKinsey estimates that the country could well earn Rs 5,000-10,000 crore by the year 2012. The Indian medical tourism industry, growing at an annualised rate of 30 percent, caters to patients chiefly from the US, Europe and Africa. Although in its nascent stage, the industry is outpacing similar industries of other countries such as Greece, South Africa, Jordan, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. In the year 2004, Approx 1,50,000 medical tourists have visited India.