Medical Tourism – An Emerging Industry in India

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India is becoming hot destination for surgeries such as knee / hip replacement, organ transplant, cardiac surgeries, orthopedic treatments, cosmetic surgeries, dentistry, urological and nephrological surgeries. It is observed that most patients are coming from US, Canada, UK, Australia and African regions.

The medical services offered in developed countries are costing too high in comparison with services available in developing countries like India. E.g. According to article published on Yale Global Online heart valve replacement surgery costs approx. US $200,000 in the US but it is possible in in India around $8,000. If we include patient’s travel cost and other immigration charges then also this is quite cheaper than the total amount of surgery in US. The low cost in India does not mean that we compromise in quality. Similar types of services are available in India as compared with US, UK, Singapore and Thailand.

If we do the competitive analysis of Medical Tourism in India then we can list out mainly following topics:

Strength:

• The basic philosophy - “Sarvetra Santu Niramaya” – a Sanskrit word means “Everyone live a healthy life”

• India has many good world class hospitals and renowned doctors. E.g. we have best Urology Surgeon India – Dr. Mahesh Desai.

• Cost of treatment is comparatively low, and care is provided by the doctors.

• We have the latest technologies and same type of services available as in comparison with developed countries. E.g. Da Vinci Robotic surgery is available in India for urology / nephrology. Similarly latest less-invasive surgeries are available for knee replacement surgeries.

• India is connected with most of the major countries in the world by air way or sea way. So approaching India is very easy. Better access information and lower transportation helps the medical tourism for its rapid growth.

• India has plenty of natural beauty, so patients and their relatives enjoy the travelling after their surgery.

• Some of the services are not approved by the US government, but it is approved by Indian Government like hip replacement.

• There is not official statistics available but it is believed that in 2004 more than 150,000 foreigners sought medical treatments in India and it is growing at the rate of 15% p.a. according to study made by Forbes.

Weakness:

• Pre-operative checkup and post-operative follow-up are very difficult to conduct from the same hospital.

• Mal practice laws in India are not that powerful, which give potential to certain doctors to act beyond their limits.

The growth of the medical tourism depends upon the several factors:

• Medical Insurance: Many medical surgeries are comparatively costlier. E.g. Heart Surgery, Organ Transplant etc. Awareness about medical insurance is increasing gradually.

• Knowledge Awareness: There is a need to spread awareness about cheaper and better treatment available in India. Such awareness can be created by means of internet, media, medical conferences etc. Since India is leading in IT industry, this is added advantage for the hospitals to take their services and spread the awareness.

Many tourism companies provide medical tourism facilities as well. Such type of companies have tie-up with various hospitals. They organize group travels from countries to India. These companies also facilitates in Visa and Medical Insurance. These companies either take charge from patient for their services or sometimes hospitals pay them.

Such type of mass travel is useful for the patients. As travel cost gets cheaper for them. They don’t have to bother about their stay, food and hospital accommodation. They know their destination already, so it helps in saving time, money and energy. Such tourism companies have already tie-up with good hospitals. So it is beneficial for hospitals, tourism companies and patients.

Many hospitals arrange for medical camps and conferences in different countries like Africa, Middle East etc. Such initiatives help them to communicate with patient directly. Many patients get cured in such medical camps and if they require a specific treatment then surgery can be scheduled in such camps.

If India wants to be leader in medical tourism then it must need to spend sufficient amount in creating the infrastructure and facilities. But investing in this, may lead to increase in amount of cost of treatment, resulting it to get out of reach to the common people. This leads to make me comment on basic question that medical treatments are necessity for every one and should be affordable for all so which type of measure should we take so that each of us be benefited?

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