Union Health Ministry has collaborated with the Tourism, Ayush, Civil Aviation ministries, hospitals, and other entities in the medical field, in order to promote India as a destination for medical travel. The government is also working on easing the visa norms for patients from as many as 44 countries. Besides this, the government is looking to upgrade medical infrastructure, technology, and facilities to attract foreign patients. The ministry has identified 37 facilities in 17 cities in 12 states for this transformation. This venture is part of the government’s ‘Heal in India’ initiative.
The 44 countries were identified on the basis of the inflow of patients. According to sources, India sees a maximum number of patients from African, and Latin American countries, as well as members of the SAARC and Gulf Cooperation Council groupings. As such, countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Kenya, Maldives, Nigeria, Oman, Sudan, Tanzania, and Yemen account for about 88% of the total international patients visiting India.
The cities that will be included in the up-gradation process in the first phase are Ahmedabad, Alappuzha, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gurugram, Guntur, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Pune.
Government is also planning to provide interpreters for more languages at the airports and hospitals so as to ease communication problems for international p[patients. It is also believed that these patients might be tended to by English-speaking staff at the healthcare facilities.
Through these measures, the government hopes to build a roadmap for international patients so that they can connect with healthcare facilities in the country easily. This will boost medical tourism in India. Recent estimates show that the medical tourism market, which was at US $6 billion in 2020 fiscal, is likely to see a jump and be valued at more than $13 billion by 2026.
