Medical tourism in India

Abstract

The study was initiated with the objective of identifying the potential for creating an intermediary to facilitate medical tourism in India. However, over the course of the study, the objective was modified to understand the reasons for the slow growth in this sector and the impact of medical tourism on primary healthcare, and to brainstorm on the changes required to double the growth of medical tourism without hurting primary healthcare. The reason for this change in objective was the realization post literature survey that the hype around medical tourism, although has existed for 8 years, has not resulted in much traction on ground. While Singapore and Thailand are growing rapidly in being the global destinations for medical healthcare, India is yet to build infrastructure to satisfy domestic healthcare needs. Government’s supportive policies for private sector while its initiatives in public healthcare through National Rural Health Mission have been gaining traction over the past 5 years, there is still much ground to be covered. Through this study, an attempt is made to thoroughly understand the current scenario in the healthcare sector and the status of medical tourism in India and recommend actions that could propel the growth to the next stage. It is recommended that government support the private sector through easy visa processing for international patients while mandating the private players to operate in rural areas as well, similar to the banking sector, for inclusive healthcare services. Further, hospitals have to take more affirmative steps to attract medical tourists through world class infrastructure and quality healthcare services.