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Indian Medical Tourism: A Summary

Ten years ago, medical tourists to India were just a small number. Today however, approximately half a million foreign patients will travel to India for medical care. In 2002 the number was just 150,000. So why has medical tourism in India seen such dramatic growth?

The area has shown such growth potential that Indian finance minister Jaswant Singh, called recently for India to become a “global health destination.” His enthusiasm for making medical tourism in India a major foreign exchange revenue earner has broad based support among local government and industry. The ministry of tourism, various state tourism boards and the private sector consisting of travel agents and tour operators, have all shown interest in developing the industry. All are looking at healthcare and medical tourism in India as an area with tremendous growth potential. A newspaper article recently in “India Abroad”, showed the potential for medical tourism. It outlined a deal where India could earn more than $1 billion annually and 4 million jobs by sub-contracting work from the British National Health Service. For most medical tourists, the real attraction is lower costs and shorter waiting lists. The cost of surgery in India can be one-tenth of that in the United States or Western Europe. The savings sound very attractive, but this must be combined with top quality medial facilities.

Inferior medical care would not be worth having at any price, and some sceptics warn that Third World surgery cannot possibly be so good at the prices offered. Yet the hospitals and clinics that cater to the tourist market in India are some of the best in the world, and many are staffed by physicians trained in the industrialized nations. Indian doctors and medical staff have had a huge presence in the healthcare services in these countries and this quality of staff has instilled confidence in many medical tourists to come to India. India is among the leaders in world healthcare and is pushing this advantage further in the research area. Biotechnology research has significant investment and India is pushing ahead with stem cell research at a level approached only in Britain.

India has world class healthcare facilities for heart surgery, hip and knee replacement, cosmetic surgery, dentistry, bone marrow transplants and cancer therapy. In fact all major areas are covered for medical tourists and this broad range of healthcare options is a major factor in the rapid growth of medical tourism in India.

India is already one of the biggest destinations for medical tourists and looks set to maintain and build on its reputation. Unlike many of its competitors in medical tourism, India has the technological base and infrastructure to maintain its market lead. For instance, Indian pharmaceuticals meet the stringent requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and India's quality of healthcare is also on par with any of the major industrialized nations. Indian health centres also provide services that are not available elsewhere. For example, hip surgery patients in India can have a hip-resurfacing procedure, in which damaged bone is replaced with chrome alloy, an operation that costs less and causes less trauma than the traditional replacement procedures.

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