| Treating the world! | ||||
| As more hospitals become accredited in India, the country can look forward to a thriving medical tourism industry. Quality India takes a detailed look at the opportunities and the challenges. | ||||
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India, according to global health observers, represents
the most potential medical tourism market
in the world. The key drivers for this assessment
are elements that include > Low cost: Patients can save over 60 per cent of their treatment costs by undergoing treatment in India. > Scale and range of treatments: India offers vast range of medical treatments; from simple dental procedures to the complex cardiac surgeries.  Availability of alternative wellness treatments like spa, yoga and Ayurveda. With more and more hospitals nationally ramping up their operations to meet this influx and an increasing awareness and determination conform with hospital accreditation, things can only get better in the years to come. In 2007, around 272000 medical tourists visited India for medical tourism and together, they brought US $656 million in revenues. Both foreign employers and insurance firms are expected to outsource large share of medical treatments to India. The Indian medical tourism market is expected to generate over US $2.5 billion in revenues by 2012, up from the current $1.2 billion. The assessment is that medical tourism in India expected to grow 30 per cent annually till 2012. Encouraged by the growth momentum, the government has launched medical visas to be given on a priority basis Apart from the growth of the core medical and nursing services, the potential for the ancillary industries is almost unlimited. This growth is expected to serve as a boon for several associated industries also, including hotel industry, medical equipment industry and pharmaceutical industry. The industry assessment is that there would be enough opportunities for 5000-10000 professionals, specifically catering to this industry segment in the next five years. These would include international marketing professionals, patients, relation managers, back office employees. Are there any downsides? Not really, but there are some areas of concern: * A greater need for hospitals to look at hospital accreditation system as a surefire means to ramp up Quality delivery services. * Inefficient laws against malpractices.  *An acute need for infrastructure to train people to provide top Quality medicare delivery services *There are virtually no institutions offering niche courses in these areas. Apart from North America and Europe, where India has won acclaim for its medical services, the other markets which favour India, as healthcare destination, are African countries, the Middle East and SAARC countries. India is a closer destination for Quality healthcare for all of them. They, perhaps, find empathy too. In most of these countries, complex surgeries and advanced treatment are out of the question. Many of the specialised treatments are simply not available. So,the obvious choice is to come to this part of the world. The fourth market is that of expatriates. An Indian settled in the US or the UK would rather come to India for treatment or surgery while being comforted by relatives. Many of the insurance plans, even the robust insurance plans do not cover certain treatments like dental, refractive surgery and so, the preferred destination is India. Why pay through the nose when you can have home-cooked food, be with your loved ones and get yourself treated. There has also been a huge attitudinal change. Not so long ago travelling abroad for medical care was considered too risky. Today, more and more people fly elsewhere for treatment. A report this year by Deloitte consultancy outlined that two in five Americans would consider travelling to a foreign country for a medical procedure if it cost half the US price and Quality was at least equal. If you look at the money saved, the choice is simple: * An aortic valve replacement costs more than $100,000 in the US, about $38,000 in Latin America and $12,000 in Asia. * A hip replacement can cost up to £15,000 ($29,845) in the UK, but is only £5,000 in Germany or £3,600 in India. The future direction of the medical travel market has important ramifications for governments, employers and health insurers. If US employers were willing to pay for a covered employee’s medical procedure of equivalent Quality abroad, it would significantly lower overall healthcare costs, say observers “If payers covered medical travel, the potential US market would probably range from 500000 to 700000 patients a year, compared with 5000 to 7000 today. The savings might be in the order of $20bn,” according to a McKinsey report. According to the same report, 40 per cent of all medical travellers are seeking the world’s most advanced technologies and 32 per cent are seeking better care than they can get in their home countries and are often based in the developing world. |
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