Medical tourism can be the next goldmine for India: CII

Medical tourism can be the next goldmine for India: CII

Our Bureau

Bangalore , Nov. 26

INDIA can turn medical tourism into its next goldmine, if it rightly projects its competences and improves the healthcare standards, said speakers at the CII-sponsored two-day quality summit on health tourism.

During the current season between now and March 2005 alone, some two million leisure and business travellers are expected into the country compared to 1.3 lakh tourists coming in the past 18 months. This is the time to encash it into a $1-billion medical tourism opportunity, catering to several foreigners who are seeking low-cost, but world-class medical treatment, said Mr Vishal Bali, Summit Chairman and VP, Wockhardt Hospitals.

He said no other country offers the unique mix of seven officially approved systems of medicine ranging from Ayurveda to naturopathy and Tibetan medicine. This industry is growing at 30 per cent annually and could easily add 40 million new jobs too.

"There is no reason why India should not become the healthcare destination of the world" by combining the best of specialty hospitals, hotels and spas, the State Tourism departments and travel agents, he said. South East Asia is the undisputed leader in the area, with Bangkok's famed Bumrungrad Hospital alone attracting 2.7 lakh international patients a year.

According to Mr Utkarsh Palnitkar, Partner, Ernst & Young, medical tourism could be a $30-40-billion proposition worldwide, with spends on hospitalisation rising; the Gulf region led by Saudi Arabia alone spends $20 billion on medical care. However, new entrants were emerging such as South Africa, Croatia and Greece, and "We have to wake up fast" to grab the pie.

Players such as Prestige group's joint venture Angsana Oasis, Dr Isaac Mathai's Soukya International Holistic Health Care Centre at Whitefield (near Bangalore), Ayurveda Gram Heritage Wellness Centre and Kerala-based Casino Group have scented early successes by offering Indian and Western therapies to a large number of foreigners.

According to Dr Mathai, if each of the 40,000 US physicians of Indian origin refers one person to India, the medical tourists could become a huge number. Ayurveda, spirituality, yoga, acupressure and naturopathy can be the unique selling propositions for foreigners who don't hesitate to spend $400 an hour on any of these systems. "If you play up Ayurveda the right way, an unbelievable number of people can come to India" seeking its benefits, said Dr Mathai.