Medical tourism thriving in India
Medical tourism is a growth sector of India’s tourism industry. With healthcare in developed countries getting costlier significant numbers of international tourists are keen on seeking India as a cheap destination for treatment.
Statistics reveal that this niche segment of the tourism industry is moving forward at a brisk pace. In 2013 the government issued 56,129 medical visas, a figure that increased by 35 per cent in the following year. The year 2015 saw a substantial (75 per cent) jump in issuance of visas and the surge continues. As on June 2016 a total of 96,856 medical visas have been issued which is 72 per cent of the figure achieved in the previous year.
India’s current size of the medical tourism market is estimated at US $ three billion and the potential is US $ eight billion by 2020. Recent government policies to boost medical tourism are favorable. It includes easing of visa restrictions, visa-on-arrival, encouraging modern facilities by private sector hospitals, etc. Moreover fresh measures are underway to further improve the prospects.
Single-window facility to connect various medicare and wellness systems available in the country for such tourists is proposed. Other measures likely to be announced include setting up e-visa counters at airports for the tourists, issuing them pre-paid activated SIM cards upon arrival and setting up of a web portal featuring the best healthcare facilities on offer.
Recently the government announced e-visas for patients seeking prolonged treatment in recognised healthcare centres. Applicants from nearly 150 countries eligible for e-tourist visas will be able to send online applications for medical visas with scanned copies of medical prescriptions from a government-accredited hospital of his/ her country. The applicant’s biometric details will be taken on arrival. Measures are also underway to integrate Allopathy, Ayurveda, Yoga and other medicare systems, and tour and travel operators to facilitate the tourism.
Meanwhile the latest Economic Survey has suggested further measures to boost the medical tourism sector. “There is a need for improvements in the e-tourist visa (eTV) and ordinary visa which include extension of the eTV window to 180 days instead of the current 30 days before the tour, need for multiple entry eTV instead of the existing single-entry eTV” says the Economic Survey for 2015-16.
The Survey suggests measures such as extension of duration of stay to 60 days under eTV instead of 30 days, extending eTV facility for medical tourists are also needed, it added.
Initiatives like development of tourism infrastructure on PPP basis and by channelising corporate social responsibility (CSR) spends into India’s heritage development can also help in promoting the important sector, it added.
The Survey says “There is a need to promote medical tourism in the Brand India Campaign instead of the current fragmented approach where individual hospitals have been promoting themselves as hospital destinations.” Other steps required to boost the sector are rapid immigration clearances for medical tourists, enhanced basic infrastructure for them at airports, streamlining the medical visa process and extending eTV to tourists, it adds.
India is on the medical tourist itinerary of foreign tourists and is a part of the global medical tourism corridor that includes Singapore, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Mexico and Costa Rica. The country also has the second largest number of accredited hospitals after Thailand.