Medical Tourism in India

As we are moving forward in years, we could see how India is becoming the most preferred healthcare destination among the foreigners.

A growing number of tourists are flocking to India for the superlative medical treatment that is being provided by the skilled doctors. This has made India grow as a hub for the medical tourists every year. The prime reason being the cost of medical treatment in India being cheaper when compared to Western Europe, North America and some Southeast Asian countries. India has been getting a good revenue turnover from its medical tourism from past 4 to 6 years.

When asked about the revenue from foreign exchange, K.J Alphons, Tourism Minister of India declared an estimate of ₹1,35,193 crore in 2015, ₹1,54,146 crore in 2016 and ₹1,77,874 crore in 2017. The NITI Aayog (The National Institute of Transforming India) identified the Medical Value Travel as a major source of foreign exchange earnings. According to a report by FICCI and IMS Health- India has nearly 18% of the global medical tourism market. In the sense, the MVT was pegged at $ 3 billion in the year 2015 and is estimated to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth rate) of 15%. Also, it has been estimated that India’s medical tourism industry could be worth $9 billion, and account for 20% of the global market share by 2020. The report even pointed out that India enjoyed high credibility in wellness, prevention, and alternative medicines.

“The total number of patients visiting India in the year 2017 was 4.95 Lakh,” as said by KJ Alphons in a written reply to Lok Sabha. Research also depicts that the number of the patients arriving in India for treatment stood 2.34 Lakh and 4.27 Lakh in the year 2015 and 2016 respectively. Of which, patients from Bangladesh and Afghanistan have always stayed at the top and continue to rank higher in terms of a maximum number of medical tourists arrivals in India. It is estimated that 2.21 Lakh medical tourists from Bangladesh came to India in the year 2017, 2.10 Lakh in 2016 and 1.20 Lakh in 2015. So, we can clearly see how the number is rising each year. Similarly, the highest number of medical tourists from Afghanistan was in the year 2015 – 27,505. In the year 2016 it reached to a whooping number of 61,231 and declined a little to 55,681 in the year 2017. Other than these two countries, medical tourists from Oman, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Sudan, Iraq and Yemen visit India as well.

TOP REASONS WHY INDIA IS BECOMING FAMOUS AS A MEDICAL TOURISM DESTINATIONS

Being one of the fastest growing medical destinations around the world, India is predicted to drive higher with time. Everybody can get tertiary medical treatment in India which is either not available or people cannot afford it in their home country. Here are 7 major factors which make India an ideal medical tourism spot.

• Low Cost of Treatment when compared to the first world countries like the US and UK.
• Getting Visas for medical purpose is much easier than ever.
• Access to immediate service is what attracts the foreign medical tourists. Surgeries are done almost immediately.
• Even though India is a developing country, it provides world-class and standardized medical services and care with the help of the latest technology.
• Post retreatment recovery provided to the patients with therapies like Ayurveda, Naturopathy and Yoga.
• India provides an opportunity to the medical tourists to visit some of the most alluring and awe-inspiring places by taking them on a medical tourist trip.
• India has a strong base of qualified and skilled doctors. Another major factor that has made India succeed in inviting the medical tourists is the populace of good English speaking doctors, guides and medical staff which makes it easier for the foreign tourists to correlate well to Indian doctors.