Medical Tourism

India is emerging as one of the favourite destinations for foreign travellers. Several factors have accounted for the emergence of India as a tourist hotspot. One of the reasons which this paper tries to examine is the growth of medical tourism in India. The twin sectors of tourism industry and health industry has vast potential for the generation of foreign exchange and employment opportunities for the country. Medical tourists travel across international borders to obtain health care. Today medical tourism is emerging as a multibillion-dollar industry. It has to be noted here that prime objective of medical tourists is getting good quality medical treatment at a reasonable cost. India has emerged as the most sought after destination by medical tourists because it has availability of world class doctors at affordable prices when compared to other developed countries of the world.

Globalization has led to the emergence of tourism as one of the fastest growing service industry. Tourism when carried out for getting medical care is referred to as medical tourism. There is lot of potential in this sector and it can possible be the next biggest foreign exchange earner for India. Medical tourism is a growing business with many countries of the world fighting for a share in the world medical tourists. Medical tourism indeed was not known to the world a few years ago and it was hard to think of these two different services to come together. Tourism and travel was associated with leisure activity free from constraints and obligations. On the other hand hospital evokes sights of constraints and sufferings.

Medical tourists in India basically come from Middle East, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Turkey, Europe and United States of America (USA). The leading players catering to medical tourist in India are- the Apollo Hospitals, Escorts Hospital, Fortis Hospitals, Breach Candy, Hinduja, Mumbai’s Asian Heart Institute, Arvind Eye Hospitals, Leelawati Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare, B.M Birla Heart Research Center, Christian Medical College, Manipal Hospitals, Shankara Nethralaya etc. Public sector hospitals lack in catering to medical tourists but the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is doing well in this area. It receives patients from as many as 16 countries, mainly for complex surgical procedures. At AIIMS a dedicated healthcare team named International Healthcare Service team takes care of patient’s right from arrival till their departure. The centers emerging as medical hubs in India are Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi.