Impact of Medical Tourism on Indian Healthcare Market

Healthcare is one of the largest sectors in India in terms of revenue and employment. The sector is on a consistent rise, which particularly holds true for some of its subsectors. One such sector witnessing a tremendous boom in recent years is the medical tourism sector of India.The sector has gained a lot of momentum over the past few years. People traveling across the world to receive healthcare and medical treatments are on the rise, mainly due to unavailability of care in their own communities, for cost reasons, or even in pursuit of quality healthcare. Whatever the reason be, India, owing to the high quality of healthcare services available within the nation at an affordable cost, has made the country to become a hub for medical tourists from worldwide. With Asia becoming a prominent destination for medical tourists across the globe, India has a relative advantage with its skilled healthcare professionals, comparatively lower cost of treatment, advanced medical delivery system, and quality treatment. India is home to a host of top medical facilities, providing Medical Tourism facilities for patients from all over the world.

Medical Tourism in India:

For most people traveling to developing countries for medical tourism, there are specific reasons such as affordability, healthcare accessibility with less waiting period, better quality of care and support services, and availability of better treatment options. With the Indian healthcare sector meeting these reasons, the growth of medical tourism in the country is inevitable. Some of the common treatments and healthcare procedures that global patients pursue during medical tourism travels to India are for Knee Replacement, Cardiac surgery, Cosmetic surgery, Organ transplantation, Orthopedic surgery, Dental Care, and also traditional Rejuvenation Therapies like Yoga, Ayurveda therapy, Homeopathy, and Naturopathy.

In India, the medical tourism industry has beenexperiencing marked growth with an average growth rate of 30 % annually. The number of medical tourists traveling to India is increasing steadily by about 20% to 30% each year.The industry started flourishing after the country liberalized its economy in 1991. The Government ofIndia has taken steps to develop a strong infrastructure in the country and has even incentivized medical tourism. Efforts have also beenmade to minimize the cost of private healthcare by capping the prices of medicines, consumables, and medical devices, thus promoting affordable healthcare.

The progress of the Medical Tourism phenomenon in India has had an enormous impact on the economy, influencing the country’s economic, social, environmental, and medical sectors.Indeed, the impact of medical tourism on the county’s economy continues to remain positive and is growing aheadby leaps and bounds.

Innovation in health care solutions:

One of the common impact of medical tourism on healthcare is innovation and enhancement of healthcare solutions. With the increasing number of medical tourists, healthcare organizations are on their wayenhancing their facilities with state-of-the-art medical equipment, advanced diagnostics, a 24-hour emergency service center, customer helpdesks, and advanced surgical amenities to meet the international standards. Quality is the primary concern in healthcare, and it is highly emphasized among healthcare organizations in India when it comes to treating medical tourists. Indeed, the emergence of medical tourism in the country has led to increased healthcare standards in the country with a supportive state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure that raises the overall quality of healthcare.

Social and Industrial Impact:

As an emerging industry, medical tourism has significantly been instrumental in improvising the social aspects of healthcare in terms of enhanced, faster, and affordable healthcare services. It has a pivotal role in lending to infrastructural betterments and paving the way for improvisations towards overall industrial growth. Moreover, the growth of medical tourism in the country has catered the growth of several industries closely associated with it such as tourism and hospitality, insurance, etc., subsequently bringing in increased employment opportunities to the community.

The medical tourism sector in India, in its attempt to cater to the burgeoning demands of the foreign health seekers, has brought in considerable social and industrial impacts with an increased propensity towards overall growth and development of healthcare in the nation. As a developing nation, India has certainly gained prominence in the global arena for medical tourism as people throng in for medical attention.

With medical tourism benefitting international patients and extending its wide spectrum of benefits to subsectors and allied industries, there comes the demand for qualified healthcare professionals to administer the organization. We, at the International Institute of Health Management and Research, strive to generate potential students to meetthe enormous need for proficient healthcare personnel who can cater to the escalating requirements in the industry, owing to the boom of medical tourism. With excellent infrastructure facilities, cutting-edge industry-vetted curriculum, and eminent faculty, we, at IIHMR, Delhi, have successfully carved a place of pride for ourselves in the healthcare education arena. We offer healthcare management courses that focus on hospital and healthcare managementto develop outstanding management professionals with requisite skills and abilities to support the needs of the impendingadvancements in the healthcare domain.