The story to date: India hosted the ‘One Earth One Health – Advantage Healthcare India – 2023’ programme in New Delhi on April 27 and 28, in a bid to advertise India as a hub for medical tourism. With 500 overseas individuals from over 70 international locations, the two-day summit aimed to advertise the export of medical providers from India and supply networking alternatives for Medical Value Travel (MVT) consultants, industry stakeholders and professionals.
Speaking at the inaugural occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted India’s conventional healthcare techniques as holding a lot of solutions to emphasize and life-style illnesses. Highlighting the Indian philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (the world is one household), Mr. Modi mentioned that India sees medical worth journey and well being workforce mobility as vital for a wholesome planet. Urging international locations to spend money on India’s drugs industry, he identified that India ranked tenth globally for medical tourism, as per the Medical Tourism Index 2020-2021 (MTI).
What is medical tourism?
Medical tourism — often known as medical worth journey, well being tourism or international healthcare — is the follow of travelling throughout worldwide borders searching for medical providers, primarily elective or advanced surgical procedures. Stakeholders in medical tourism embrace airways, hospitals, wellness centres and lodges, amongst others.Currently, the most sought-after vacation spot for such procedures is Canada with its beneficial setting, its sturdy medical tourism industry and its prime-high quality amenities and providers. While common healthcare is out there to its residents, most authorities hospitals in Canada additionally cater to overseas sufferers.
Why is India a most well-liked MVT vacation spot?
India is a most well-liked location for medical vacationers as a result of its value-efficient healthcare providers, high quality diagnostic tools and educated docs, with lots of them fluent in English. Per the Ministry of Tourism web site, India has 1000 acknowledged nurses-coaching centres with 10,000 nurses graduating yearly. India additionally has ayurveda, yoga & naturopathy and different conventional techniques of medication for the therapy of varied illnesses, promoting wellness tourism.
The newly constructed city well being and wellness centre close to V.O.C. Park in Erode.
| Photo Credit:
Govarthan M
India & its medical tourism industry
Medical tourism in India has been on the rise in the previous decade – with most sufferers hailing from Bangladesh and Afghanistan. From 2015-2018, the variety of overseas medical vacationers steadily elevated from 2.34 lakhs to 4.95 lakhs. Apart from India’s neighbours, vacationers from Iraq, Oman, Maldives, Yemen, Uzbekistan and Sudan selected India for medical providers as a result of superior amenities, expert docs and low value of therapy.
India earned an estimated ₹1,35,193 crore, ₹1,54,146 crore, and ₹1,77,874 crore in overseas change in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively from MVT. Niti Aayog pegged India’s MVT at $3 billion in 2015 and estimated it to develop at 15%. Moreover, it was estimated to rise to $9 billion by 2020, accounting for 20% of the international market share.
However, as the world shut down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, MVT dropped as properly, with the variety of overseas arrivals in India dropping to 1.83 lakhs. As India imposed a strict lockdown to arrest the unfold of the virus, MVT earnings dropped, failing to breach the predicted $9 billion mark.
The industry rebounded in 2021 as restrictions eased and conflict broke out between Russia and Ukraine, resulting in a rise in the value of therapy in the West. This pushed medical vacationers to Asia and India particularly. The Centre rolled out the ‘National Strategy and Roadmap for Medical and Wellness Tourism’ in January 2022 to supply well being providers to the world at massive.
Currently, India, ranked tenth with a rating of 69.80 on the Medical Tourism Index, provides over 200 forms of medical providers starting from fertility remedies to skincare. The most sought-after remedies are most cancers therapy and organ transplant surgical procedures, as these are 65-90% cheaper charges when in comparison with US, Europe, Australia and even Singapore. India has 40 healthcare amenities accredited to the Joint Commission International (JCI) and 1400 National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH)-accredited hospitals. It additionally accounts for six% of the international MVT market.
NITI Aayog estimates that the Indian financial system may earn a further $9 billion by 2026 from MVT and wellness tourism. Globally, the MVT market is projected to develop from $13.98 billion in 2021 to $53.51 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 21.1%.
What are the authorities’s plans to advertise MVT?
The Centre has launched a ‘Heal in India’ marketing campaign to market the nation as a wellness and medical tourism vacation spot. Targetting the international demand for holistic therapeutic for life-style illnesses akin to diabetes, the authorities is pitching Ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy — falling below the ambit of the Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) ministry — as an alternative choice to trendy drugs. India has launched e-visas for MVT travellers from 156 nations and has additionally accredited AYUSH centres, formalising their standing in the Indian medical industry.
Under ‘Heal in India’, thirty-seven hospitals together with thirty personal hospitals throughout 17 cities have been recognized to cater to MVT. Moreover, Centre has widened its well being assurance scheme ‘PM Jan Aarogya Yojana’, overlaying roughly 500 million folks and established 150,000 well being & wellness centres. The Centre additionally plans to launch a one-cease on-line MVT portal, which can embrace mapping of all medical facilitators together with authorities and personal hospitals, reserving of providers, funds and put up-operative providers. For higher visibility, the MVT portal will likely be built-in with India’s tourism web site— Incredible India.
What are the hurdles for the MVT sector?
India’s MVT sector lacks authorities laws and monitoring. While each the Ministry of Health and Tourism are concerned in the promotion of MVT, a separate physique is wanted to move MVT and coordinate between varied stakeholders.
The costs for medical remedies differ as per the healthcare facility, resulting in confusion as to the precise value for a specific process. The lack of a value vary additionally leaves vacationers vulnerable to dishonest. India additionally doesn’t present medical insurance coverage portability, that is, permitting protection of medical remedies below the vacationers’ current insurance policy.
India’s nationwide medical accreditation — NABH— is not identified globally. Most overseas international locations want the US-based mostly JCI accreditation to the NABH, limiting choices for MVT facilitators in India.
