Healing Land

The next big thing in India after Bollywood, well on its way to becoming a full-fledged industry, is medical tourism for sure. Statistics say, on an average, per year 100,000 patients are landing India for treatments.

The current value of medical tourism in India is estimated to grow at the rate of 30 per cent each year and is likely to reach a whopping $2.5-3 billion by 2015. With this rapid rate of growth, India has been ranked amongst the top five destinations for exploring medical tourism as a whole.

Appointment: Doctor India

What makes medical tourism in India so successful? Medical tourism involves people traveling from different parts of the world like the US, UK, Australia, Middle East and other European countries in search of medical treatments or their overall healthcare treatments that are cost efficient. And India has become one of the best destinations in handling and treating these medical tourists.

Apart from offering low cost health care procedures, surgeries here are conducted at half the rate of the US. There is also a good amount of nurses and well-known doctors available, latest medical equipments and treatments, low waiting period, revival of ancient Indian medicines or forms of treatments, infrastructure, providing quality standard treatments which is at par with that of the US, easy communication, and finally a free sight-seeing of India and its rich cultural heritage.

The favorite medical treatments at offer vary from cosmetic surgeries, hip replacement, weight loss, cardiac bypass, eye and dental surgery and bone-marrow transplant just to name a few.

The New National Tourism Policy of India is aiming at providing international tourists with an India that is ‘physically invigorated, mentally rejuvenated, culturally enriched, and spiritually elevated!’

Doctoring Bazaar

With the success of medical tourism in India many other industries like traveling agencies, insurance agencies, and the hospitality sectors are also becoming big business in India. Travel agencies or medical tourism providers offer complimentary tourism packages or medical treatment packages (which range from contacting the best doctors in town, reserving a bed for treatments and providing them with a full health check-up and following it up with a relaxation period during which one can explore the beautiful and exotic locales of India while recuperating).

Insurance agencies also help medical tourists with their travel insurance and financial concerns. With such attractive offers at hand that help in doing half the job of a medical tourist, no one is likely to miss out on this opportunity!

Cheating Treating

Though the medical tourism is booming in India, a word of caution. Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management conducted a study on the problems and challenges faced by medical tourists coming to India. The report threw harsh light on the gaps between the inbound medical tourists’ expectations and what they actually got.

The headline finding is that what medical tourists expect to pay as the price quoted for medical treatment is often much less than they actually pay for the treatment and all associated costs.

That’s what Indian customers are quite accustomed to. We understand the big costs hidden behind those tempting offers with micro star marked next to the price offer and ‘conditions apply’ game. But foreign patients fall for such offers and end up paying much more than expected.

The next major area of concern is that as most patients are actually from nearby countries, there are a large number who cannot speak Hindi; while most from Africa and the Middle East do not speak English. So there are language difficulties in communicating between doctors and patients, and that using interpreters is neither comfortable nor efficient.

The third problem found that while the quality of treatment may be high, the related quality of care, buildings and accommodation is often not. While well-off patients can afford hotels, the many poor ones are often disappointed with the lower quality accommodation that they can afford.

The review places much of the blame for prices being under-quoted, not on the hospitals, but on the medical tourism agents operating in a highly competitive market seeking to get business. But then hospitals can’t be considered completely aloof of the situation.

The report also blames agents for giving patients a higher expectation of the overall experience than many actually get and of having no interest in after care.

While India is - hands spread - welcoming the ailing world for treatment and complete wellbeing, a word of advice for patient tourists; thoroughly check the fine print of packages offered and make decisions wisely.

• India has been ranked amongst the top five destinations for exploring medical tourism as a whole.
• India is a favorable destination because of its technology and infrastructure, which are at par with those in the developed countries.
• India has some of the best facilities, hospitals and treatment centers in the world.
• Most common treatments are cosmetic surgery, knee transplant, dental care and heart surgery.
• The slogan "First World Treatment at Third World Prices" is to prove the cost differential across various countries.
• A complex transplant or a bypass surgery in India can be done at half the rate than that in the US or the UK.
• Apollo and Wockhardt are the two Indian hospitals that have been granted the Joint Commission International (JCI) Accreditation, taking them into an exclusive league of 71 international hospitals.
• The Apollo group alone has so far treated approx 95,000 international patients in India.