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Archive for the ‘Medical Tourism’ Category

Medical tourism is the provision of competitively priced private medical care in collaboration with the tourism industry.

Patients can travel to India for surgery and other forms of healthcare and pay less than patients who stay in their own country.

Other highly attractive benefits include: The opportunity for patients to avoid long waiting lists and with the savings they make, get a holiday included in the package.

Medical tourists are an expanding group and one of the leaders in the field is India.

The Growth of Medical Tourism in India

India’s healthcare industry is already growing at 30 per cent annually. The area has shown such growth potential that Indian finance minister Jaswant Singh, called recently for India to become a “global health destination.” His enthusiasm for making medical tourism in India a major foreign exchange revenue earner has broad based support among local government and industry.

The ministry of tourism has shown interest, but so to have the various state tourism boards and the private sector consisting of travel agents, tour operators and hotel companies. All are looking at healthcare and medical tourism in India as an area with tremendous growth potential.

A newspaper article recently in “India Abroad,” showed the potential for medical tourism, when it outlined a deal, where India could earn more than $1 billion annually and creates 40 million new jobs by sub-contracting work from the British National Health Service. The deal would have broad appeal. It would slash waiting times dramatically in the UK and create huge savings in time and money for patients.

The potential for medical tourism in India from the US and UK looks set for major growth, as India becomes a preferred destination for medical tourists from these countries.

Medical Tourism Competition

As more and more patients from nations with high Medicare costs look for medical tourism options, India has competition namely from Thailand, Singapore and other Asian countries. They have good hospitals, attractive climates and are established tourist destinations. While these countries with their advanced medical facilities and medical tourism options have been drawing overseas healthcare traffic, India is and looks set to, expand at a faster rate.

India’s World Class Healthcare Facilities

Indian corporate hospitals are comparable to hospitals anywhere in the world. In fact, India offers world-class medical facilities that are comparable with the US or UK.

There is already a high concentration of expatriate Indian medical staff working in the US and UK, as well as many other countries. This gives patients confidence in the healthcare offered by India generally as they are already used to the expertise and professionalism of Indian medical staff. This is a major, but often overlooked factor in the growth of medical tourism in India.

Medical Tourism Costs

Medical tourism in India’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 the US or UK and cover a wide spectrum of areas from, cosmetic surgery and major operations, to preventative screening.

Medical Tourism in India and the Holiday of a Lifetime

Of course, you can get hugely reduced healthcare in India, but medical tourists can also enjoy a holiday in a country that has a huge diversity of holiday options, from the beaches of Goa, to the mighty Himalayas, diverse wildlife and thousands of years of culture. In conclusion, medical tourism in India is here to stay and looks set for spectacular growth.

Medical tourism is nothing but traveling to other countries to undergo any kind of medical procedure including surgery and others. India is one of the front runners as a destination for medical tourism. Here the word tourism is different from the ordinary destination tourism. Basically this is cost effective tourism that is done generally by private medical practitioners in collaboration with the tourism industry. medical tourism in india is catching up in a huge way and if you see carefully you will find that many people these days are opting for medical tourism in India. Under medical tourism you will find almost all kinds of medical condition and health conditions covered, so you just need to find out a destination that is offering you the best services and go there to get the procedure done. Medical tourism helps one to combine physical wellness with relaxation and leisure so that you are completely rejuvenated after the entire process.

Comparatively India is a recent entrant in the field of medical tourism, but medical tourism in India has made a huge mark and impact. In India the internet revolution and the revolution in the field of science and technology has made huge changes and medical tourism is a result of this. In India you can find the latest medical equipments and technology being used for treating various medical conditions. The cost of the treatment is much lower than what one would have had to pay in their home country. So this is very advantageous for people who are coming to visit India. Studies have indicated that the health sector in India is growing at about 30% annually and when this is combined with tourism one be greatly benefited by this. Today you will find many tour operators offering medical tourism to foreigners coming to visit India.

Medical tourism in India is gaining wide popularity because there are several things which work as an advantage for India. First the infrastructure and the healthcare facilities available here match up to the world class standards. Second the cost of getting the treatment done aboard is very expensive whereas in India this can be done at less than half the cost and the patient gets the best possible treatment available. In India one can find a large number of medical professionals who are well versed in English and this is another factor for which patients from abroad opt to get their treatments done India since most of the things here are conducive to them.

Some other Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand and others are giving a tough competition to India in the field of medical tourism. However, with the kind of facilities and other amenities available here, it will take a long time before any other country can outdo India in the field of medical tourism. To take advantage of the best medical tourism facility in India you must get in touch with a good tour operator who will provide you with the best medical tourism package in India. Make sure that you do not lose out on visiting some of the famous places while you are visiting India.

Leading Indian Hospitals, Healthcare providers (both Modern Medicine and Traditional Indian Medicine), Travel and Medical Tourism Industry providers have come together to form an industry association – Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA) that aims to work together to make India the leading global healthcare destination.

The phenomenon now popularly known as Medical Tourism is often cited as the next big opportunity for India after the IT outsourcing to earn billions of dollars in forex earnings and create jobs in the healthcare sector. So far only a select group of Indian hospitals have been making valiant attempts to market their services in international arena. More than a million overseas patients already treated at top Indian corporate hospitals like Apollo, Fortis, Wockhardt, Max, Manipal and many others have already proved to the world that the clinical quality, technology and cost proposition offered by India is unmatched. The capacity in super specialty segment Indian hospitals is expanding fast and there is no waiting period for local or overseas patients.

CII Mc’Kinsey study first reported on medical tourism as the billion dollar opportunity for India way back in 2002 and the steady growth in overseas patient arrivals has validated the potential. With a large number of new private super specialty hospitals and even integrated health cities coming up in India’s top ten cities, India has the potential to become the global leader in the Medical Travel/ Outsourcing industry. Indian doctors and professionals are world renowned for their skills and the country has abundance of all the inputs like talented young manpower, local high quality manufacturing base for pharmaceuticals, technology hardware and software that makes the Indian costs for high end surgical procedures so attractive. The challenge really is on the non medical side, primarily on the marketing front and also to create infrastructure and services to support the growth of medical tourism.

Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA) - a non profit body and a unified voice of the Indian healthcare (modern medicine as well as traditional Indian medicine) and travel industry is aimed at preparing India for facing the challenges of global competition and actualise the tremendous opportunity for India to become a leading global healthcare destination. Modern medicine as well as India’s 5000 year old traditional therapies like Ayurveda, Siddha and Yoga can offer to the world an unbeatable healing package.

“IMTA would strive to help its members reach out in a cost effective manner to millions of our potential global consumers who reside on the other side of the globe in a different time and cultural zone and make them aware of the tremendous value that Indian healthcare offers. The fact is that prior to choosing a hospital, the international patients first decide on the country or the destination. Therefore we all must join hands to aggressively promote INDIA as a preferred global healthcare destination,” Says Pradeep Thukral, Executive Director, Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA)

The Government of India and its various arms are actively supporting the growth of medical tourism to India. In a message to IMTA, the Union Tourism Minister, Kumar Shailaja conveyed “This is indeed a commendable initiative and we all know the tremendous opportunity  that Medical Tourism presents for India. On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, I would like to provide all possible support this industry initiative  and would like to wish IMTA and its members great success in their efforts.

Two years ago the Government of India introduced a special category of Visa called M Visa for foreigners desirous of coming to India for medical treatment. India’s Ministry of Tourism has achieved phenomenal success in last five years with its much acclaimed “Incredible India “campaign that has multiplied the arrival of foreign tourists to India. The current year 2009 is being promoted by Indian Ministry of Tourism as “Visit India’” year and the ministry is keen to promote Medical Tourism. It has recently notified the Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme to eligible Medical Tourism players which enables them to get financial support for participation in overseas promotional events.