Originally published April 7 2005
India wants more medical tourism, but needs to prove credibility first
by Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor
India wants to increase medical tourism, but it does not yet have the necessary tools to impress patients looking abroad for their health care solutions. However, by earning accreditations, standardizing medical practices, and getting government, hospitals and tourism agencies, India can increase its medical tourism industry to $2.2 billion per year. The wide use of alternative medicine makes India a particularly intriguing destination, and India can bill itself as a holistic health solution.
- India's relatively developing medical tourism segment has been anointed by healthcare and tourism industry pundits as the next 'best' thing for the country.
- According to a McKinsey report, India is poised to generate business worth USD 2.2 billion by 2010, however there are plenty of challenges that need to be addressed for India to become the world's preferred healthcare destination.
- Prominent among them being the need for proper accreditation and requisite standardisation systems in place, a tripartite synergy between hospitals, tour operators and respective state governments.
- NV Ramamurthy, editor, Express Healthcare Management welcomed the delegates and the panelists.
- He spoke about the various challenges impeding the growth of the medical tourism industry and emphasised the need for a synergy between hospitals, state government and international tour operators.
- The panelists for the session comprised Dr R V Karanjekar, chief executive officer, Dr D Y Patil Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai; Anupam Verma, director administration at PD Hinduja National Hospital, Mumbai; Joy Chakraborty, deputy administrator at Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre; Gour Kanjilal, regional director (Western & Central Region), Indiatourism, Mumbai and Mahendra Jain, commissioner of tourism, government of Karnataka.
- According to Dr RV Karanjekar, India will have to project itself as being a holistic medical destination to get an edge over other countries.
- We need to club together a couple of 'pathies' because we have a very strong base of alternative healing therapies like yoga, naturopathy, ayurveda, etc," said Dr Karanjekar.
- The panelists echoed yet another imperative that creating awareness about India's facilities is a must to establish credibility in foreign markets.
- Joy Chakraborty further suggested that the standardisation of a price band for graded hospitals and a quality assurance model should be taken up immediately to take medical tourism ahead.
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