Issues, Prospects, Opportunities and Challenges of Health Tourism in India

Generally, people living in one country, if travel to another country or another region of the same country, for the purpose of getting medical care including surgery, which is not available in their own country or region otherwise, is termed as Medical Tourism or Health Tourism. For this purpose generally people travel from under developed countries to highly developed countries in absence of the facilities in their own country or when getting cheaper and better options in alternative countries. Its popularity is growing fast across the globe, focusing primarily and predominantly on biomedical reasons, combined with tourism, if possible. Most of the medical tourists belong to Asian countries, and interestingly these tourists are visiting also to asian countries, whose number is increasing very fast every year. In this field mainly four asian countries India, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia are leading and these are promoting and popularizing medical tourism aggressively. India has great Prospects in the field of Medical Tourism by virtue of its core competence developed in cardiovascular surgery and organ transplant/surgery etc, along with low cost option and great reputation. Apart from generating employment opportunities, it will also increase our foreign exchange and cause socio-economic development, strengthening our country’s economy. Apart from the treatment by allopathic system, other Indian systems of medicines, i.e. Ayurveda, Yoga, Panchakarma, Rejuvenation Therapy and Naturopathy etc. also have gained great popularity in recent past. The Govt also has taken several initiatives through Ministry of Tourism to promote India as a Medical and Health Tourism Destination. Special provisions have been made for the foreign visitors coming to India for their treatment, issuing them a new category of visa "Medical Visa" for the purpose. Apart from the Government initiatives, most of the private hospitals are also investing heavily, giving a facelift to their medical facilities, realizing the potential for Medical Tourism in India, in order to make them visible to not only to local elite but also to overseas clients. This paper reviews some key issues, prospects, opportunities, challenges and some other relevant aspects of Medical Tourism with respect to India.

Keywords

Medicine; Tourism; Surgery; Cosmetic.

Laws, E.(1996) : “Health tourism : A business opportunity approach . In S. Clift and S.J. page

Goodrich , G.& GoodrichJ. (1987): “Healthcare Tourism-An exploration study”, Tourism Management, September, pp.217-222

Connell, J. (2006): “Medical tourism: Sea, Sun, Sand and … Surgery”, Tourism Management , 27 (6), pp. 1093-1100.

Blouin C. Drager, N. & Smith, R. (2006): “International Trade in Health Services and GATS: Current Issues and Debates”, World Bank, Washington DC., ISBN-13

Qadeer, Imrana and Mary E John (2009): “The Business and Ethics of Surrogacy”, Economic & Political Weekly, 44 (2): 1012.

Suman Kumar Dawn; Swati Pal - “Medical Tourism In India: Issues, Opportunities And Designing Strategies For Growth And Development” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Vol.1 Issue 3, July 2011, ISSN 2231 5780

Anupama Sharma – “Medical tourism: emerging challenges and future prospects”-International Journal of Business and Management Invention ISSN (Online): 2319 – 8028, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 801X www.ijbmi.org Volume 2 Issue 1 ǁ January. 2013ǁ PP.21-29

Sunita Reddy, Imrana Qadeer-Special Article Medical Tourism in India: Progress or Predicament? Economic & Political Weekly EPW May 15, 2010 vol xlv no 20.

Carrera and Bridges (2006) have defined medical tourism as travel which is systematically planned to maintain one’s physical and mental health condition.

Monica, R. (2007) : “ Hospital and Medical Tourism in Singapore, Ezine Articles Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com (Eds.) Health and the International Tourist (pp. 199-214), Routledge : London and new York.

Carrera , P.M. & Bridges J.F.P (2006) “ Globalization and Healthcare : Understanding Health and Medical tourism”, Expert review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research , 6(4), pp.447-454