Medical Tourism in India – An Outlook

According to International Healthcare and Research Centre statistics, India currently ranks 5th worldwide and 2nd in Asia on the Medical Tourism Index. There exists no doubt that India is renowned globally for its tourism diversity. Medical tourism in Kerala, on the other hand, is one of those hidden treasures which the nation has very recently started tapping aggressively. According to reports, a good majority of the medical tourists come to India to seek out the following procedures:

•          the heart, liver and bone marrow transplants

•          brain surgeries

•          joint replacement surgeries

•          cancer treatment

•          in vitro fertilization (IVF)

Globally, the medical tourism market is estimated at around US$40-60 billion. Currently, the medical tourism industry in India is pegged at US$3 billion but it is expected to reach a staggering US$9 billion market by 2020. The leading factor behind this is that treatment costs in India start at around one-tenth of the price of comparable treatment in the United States or the United Kingdom. Medical disposable also play an important role.

The Government of India has also taken up several initiatives to promote medical tourism. Earlier this year, e-Visa has been sub-divided into three categories i.e. e-tourist visa, e-Business visa and e-Medical visa for the sole scope to promote e-tourist visas. All these factors contribute to the brisk increase of the Indian healthcare sector.

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