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India's healthcare delivery mechanism may not match global standards, but medical tourism is set to boom in the country. Medical tourism can prove a real moneyspinner, but before that we need to overhaul the medical system. A look at what needs to be done to get the prescription right.
Health and medical tourism is perceived as one of the rapidly growing segments in marketing 'Destination India' today. It opens up a new market of elective surgeries for Indian hospitals in the medical tourism business. While this area has so far been relatively unexplored, we now find that not only the tourism ministry, Government of India, but also the various state tourism boards and even the private sector consisting of travel agents, tour operators and hotel companies are all eying health and medical tourism as a segment with tremendous potential for future growth. Most common treatments are heart surgery, knee transplant, cosmetic surgery and dental care. Also, neurological problems have become rampant in most of the developing and developed countries due to urban lifestyles, high incidence of accidents and degenerative problems. However, the average waiting period for a neuro procedure in western countries is nearly 4 to 5 months. Besides, the cost of one procedure in India is nearly one-tenth the cost of these in developed countries. All these factors will together add to the increased inflow of neuro patients in India. Experts feel that with increased patient faith in complex medical specialties, India can witness a potential increase in revenue from medical tourism. The global healthcare market is $3 trillion and size of the Indian healthcare industry is around Rs 1,10,000 crore, accounting for nearly 5.2 per cent of GDP. It is likely to reach 6.2- 8.5 per cent of the GDP by 2012. Despite these numbers, regional competition for medical tourists is fierce. Thailand is currently the Asian leader both in number of foreign patients and revenue. Malaysia and Singapore too have set in motion aggressive plans, with ambitious targets for the years 2010-12. Keeping such optimism apart, India's three-tier public health system - primary health centres (PHC) in villages, district hospitals, and tertiary care hospitals - is increasingly unable to attend to the medical needs of the population. Government expenditure on public health infrastructure is shrinking. At present, India spends about a per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare, lower than the average of 2.8 per cent of GDP spent by some less developed countries. The key selling point of the medical tourism industry is its cost effectiveness and its combination with the attractions of tourism. However, the price advantage is offset today for patients from the developed countries by concerns regarding standards, insurance coverage and other infrastructure. This is where the tourism and medical industries are trying to pool resources, and also putting pressure on the government. Also, the cost effectiveness works as a boon only for a fraction of patients who can afford to migrate from their countries where these services are expensive. They come to countries like India, where they can afford almost the same quality of treatment but with the additional excitement of tourism. Only specialised hospitals run by large private corporate entities are currently able to provide medical tourism. A large influx of the well-heeled or foreign patients could lead to a reverse brain drain with government medical practitioners migrating to these affluent centres of medical excellence, to the detriment of the poor. At present, about 59 per cent of medical practitioners are located in the cities, though the bulk of India's population lives in the remote rural interiors, which any way are deprived of basic healthcare facilities. So while private airlines gear up to fly passengers and hotel spas prepare themselves to offer esoteric therapies, the government must roll up its sleeves to ensure this imbalance is not caused in the social sector, while welcoming foreign patients who bring in valuable revenue.
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