Draft Report of the High Level Group on Services Sector

5.1.4 Medical Value Travel in India

What is significant is that the hospitals established by the private corporate players are of world class. They have not only the latest medical technological facilities but also the services of Indian doctors and nurses with a high degree of proficiency. Corporate hospitals are completely equipped, up market and proficient and can measure up, or even outshine, any hospital in the west. India’s value proposition is it being able to offer highly cost competitive medical treatment with the most up-to-date technological advances (Burrill India Life Sciences Quarterly- January 2007). The quality of their service coupled with the highly competitiveness charged by them for common surgeries has made India an attractive destination for medical value travel. It is estimated that in 2002 as many as 150,000 medical tourists travelled to India bringing in earnings of US $300 million. The CII-McKinsey Report of that year projected that this figure would go up to US $ 2 billion by 2012. The Indian Government has moved to provide visa facilities for the medical tourists. The main clientele comes from the SAARC countries but an increasing number of NRIs settled in the US and the UK have also been availing of the healthcare services in India. There is a good prospect of patients coming from the Middle East in future. The main impediment for medical tourists coming from the UK and US for major surgeries is the fact that the insurance companies are generally not willing to cover treatment in India. However, the cost savings involved in getting treatment done in India is bound to result in the insurance company imposed barriers breaking down in future. Already some hospitals are entering into alliance with international insurance companies for making it possible to send patients to India for treatment.