The Medicine Box | Here’s why hospitals are bullish on the prospect of medical tourism

Hospitals are bullish on the prospect of medical value travel or medical tourism. Initiatives such as ‘Heal In India’ by the government will add impetus as it is expected to increase transparency. Indian hospitals have the advantage of not only clinical skills and cost but softer skills such as proficiency in English. Here is what the top hospital heads of Medanta, Fortis and Apollo Hospitals had to say on medical value tourism.

While speaking to CNBC-TV18’s Ekta Batra, Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman and MD of Medanta said before COVID-19, around 12 percent patients were international. However, it fell to 3-4 percent and now rising again.

He further added that medical tourism recovery is much faster. The biggest bottleneck has been visas — pending visas have been issued. There are around 140 visas waiting in Iraq to come.

According to him, government schemes have helped trigger medical tourism and India has a huge future when it comes to the same, adding that India has the highest level of care across all specialities. India provides quality, cost effective services and is more universal in English versus other countries. India has a good image and is improving, he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD and CEO of Fortis Healthcare, said medical tourism is around 10 percent of sales. He expects it to rise to 12-15 percent in the next 1.5 to 2 years.

According to him, Heal In India will bring transparency in interactions. However, one of the challenges is general infrastructure in healthcare.

While Apollo Hospitals’ MD Suneeta Reddy said medical value tourism should be around 7 percent of sales in FY23E (estimated). According to her, medical value tourism on absolute basis has risen 19 percent from 2020 and the potential for medical value tourism can go to 20 percent of sales.

Apollo Hospitals will be a big player in Medical tourism due to its locations, she said.