Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Medical Tourism in India” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Medical Tourism in India

The term Medical Tourism means people’s act of travelling to different places in search of low cost and quality health care services that will also allow them to visit renowned tourist places in the same area within the same expenses. It is a developing concept whereby people from world over visit India for their medical and relaxation needs.

As health care costs skyrocket, patients in the developed world are looking overseas for medical treatment. India is capitalizing on its low costs and highly trained doctors to appeal to these medical tourists. The most common treatments are cardiac and cardiothoracic surgery, pediatric cardiology, knee and hip transplant, hip resurfacing instead of hip replacement, other orthopedic treatments, bone marrow and liver transplants, infertility treatments such as IVF and ART, cosmetic surgery, eye care, dental treatment, and any other treatment for that matter.

India now offers the latest techniques such as robotic surgery, and gamma-knife treatment for brain tumors. The efficacy of treatment compares with that in the West, with the death rate from coronary bypasses at 0.8% compared to 2.35% in the US. Patients from countries like USA and UK travel to developing countries such as India for treatment because India offers some of the cheapest pricing options of treatment, offers a good holiday to some of the most alluring and awe-inspiring places such as Taj Mahal, God’s Own Country-Kerala, North East, Kashmir etc, no waiting lists or queues, the doctors comparable to anyone in the world, qualified and caring nursing, and finally but importantly the English language. Healthcare packages are varied and so are the cost varying from one tenth to one-third of what it is in USA and UK. Other procedures such as diagnostic services to offer significant cost-savings.

India is being promoted as a healthcare destination in the ongoing ‘Incredible India campaign,’ being run by the Tourism ministry. The campaign would promote Indian hospitals abroad as centers offering best and cost effective medical services. Requisite standardization and Quality Assurance systems are other confidence building measures which help in promoting medical tourism; these are being instituted. India is also working hard to increase its infrastructure to better suit the needs of such patients India will have to project itself as being a holistic medical destination to get an edge over other countries and need to club together a couple of `pathies’ because of having a very strong base of alternative healing therapies like yoga, nephropathy, ayurveda etc.

To establish India as a world destination for health care, the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABL), a body set up to ensure safety and hygiene norms for hospitals, has already started the process of granting accreditation with 70 hospitals in the process of getting approval. The most important player is the Apollo Group, the largest hospital group in India, and the third largest in the world, with 37 hospitals and 7000 beds. It is now moving into an area of outsourcing its services to USA and UK

The field has such lucrative potential that it can soon become a multi billion dollar industry worth Rs.100 billion ($2.3 billion) by 2012, states a study by Confederation of Indian Industry (CIE). In 2004, some 150,000 foreigners visited India for treatment, and the number has been rising by about 15 per cent each year. Seeing the huge potential in the sector, the government has started issuing M (medical) visa to the medical tourists and MX visa to the spouse, which is valid for a year.

Today, India, known for exporting doctors to the west, is now working to import patients from the west.