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Union government’s Heal in India is positioned to garner the growth of Indian medical tourism. The government is now working to create a repository of medical specialists so that international patients can have the required information. This is even as medical tourism being among the most rapidly growing sectors.
According to Rajeev Taneja, founder and CEO at Global Care, a company that works to ensure transparency, trust and high quality in medical tourism, even collaborations with Tourism, Ayush, Civil Aviation ministries and hospitals can build a roadmap to connect overseas patients with healthcare facilities in the country.
Medical tourism is one of the most rapidly growing sectors. It was valued at an impressive USD 6 billion in 2020 and is predicted to reach approximately US$ 13 billion by 2026.
The big advantage in Indian medical tourism is the cost, medical expertise and healthcare infrastructure. Cost wise, medical tourism in India is significantly lesser than developed world. Medical tourism doesn’t just support the medical industry but also in-bound tourism and hospitality.
With access to opportunities and global reach, the government can help position India as the most cost-effective and state-of-the-art destination for medical tourism, Taneja told Pharmabiz in an email.
Covid pandemic with its lockdown, border restrictions, travelling apprehension and isolation affected medical tourism. The healthcare system was truly brought down to its knees and there were massive, unprecedented challenges. In a post-Covid crisis, medical tourism is indicating positive growth and India is steadily finding its place as one of the key destinations.
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) can be fruitful for medical tourism. While the private sector can bring its experience and investment to the table, the public sector can help augment it with a conducive policy framework and global outreach.
“We see the PPP approach in medical tourism as an ideal way to position India as the global destination healthcare access. The private sector is recognized for skilled medical staff, infrastructure. Its corporate framework can help in managerial proficiency and staff efficiency to help the sector grow. It can help with cost-optimization and help in extending R&D and technological advancements,” Taneja noted.
With healthcare and diagnostics continuously evolving in terms of technology and new offering in equipment and tests, strategic investments are crucial to sustain the cost-optimized care. This needs to be supported with updated skills of medical professionals to give a fillip to cash inflow from medical tourism. Further, there needs to be standardization in frame work of clinical care and the treatment cost across surgeries, wellness, Ayush etc. This will ensure that the treatments process and pricing can build the much-needed trust with the patients. Currently, different hospitals have different service and monetary packages for similar treatments so having standardization or a framework will bring harmony to the process, said Taneja.
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