This document provides an overview of medical tourism, with a focus on India. It discusses what medical tourism is, common terms used, a brief history, and India's role. Key points include that medical tourism involves traveling abroad for treatment, India has a long history as a destination for health travelers seeking affordable treatments like Ayurveda, and the country now has many JCI accredited hospitals and is a leading destination for procedures like orthopedics and cardiology due to high quality care at much lower costs than other countries.
2. What is medical tourism?
Medical tourism is the practice of travelling abroad in order
to receive medical treatment.
In general, It is the travel of people to another country for the
purpose of obtaining medical treatment in that country.
3. Terminology
Alternate terms:
Health tourism
Medical journeys
Global healthcare / Cross border healthcare
Medical value travel
More specific terms:
Surgical tourism
Transplant tourism
Reproductive tourism
Dental tourism
Suicide / Euthanasia tourism
4. History of medical tourism:
Medical tourism dates back thousands of years to when Greek
pilgrims traveled from all over the Mediterranean to the small territory
in the saronic gulf called Epidauria. Epidauria became the original
travel destination for medical tourism.
Spa towns and sanitarium were the form of early medical tourism.
People travels to these destinations for medical benefits. From the
18th century wealthy Europeans travelled to spas from Germany to
the Nile.
In Roman Britain, patients took the waters at a shrine at Bath, a
practice that continued for 2,000 years.
In 1326, a little village in east Belgium gained overnight fame after the
discovery of the iron-rich hot springs. It developed into a full-fledged
health resort in 16th century.
5. History of medical tourism in India:
India is also historical medical tourism destination. The
yoga gained popularity 5000 years ago. Indian
medical science is as old as the Indus valley
civilization
India has been visited by constant stream of health
travelers seeking to heel themselves through
Ayurveda
Ayurveda has always been preserved by the people
of India as a traditional “science of life” from
thousands of years
Susruta was the very famous surgeon of ancient India
6. Reasons of medical tourism:
High savings
No wait-lists
High quality treatment
World class facilities
Access to latest technology
Best surgeons
Customer care
Travel opportunities
High Savings
No Waiting
High Quality
treatment
World Class
Facilities
Best
Surgeons
Best customer
services
Travel
opportunities
7. Some Statistics of
Medical Tourism Industry
The market size of medical tourism industry is
estimated near about USD 10.5 billion in 2012
It is estimated to reach a market worth USD 32.5
billion in 2019 at a CAGR of 17.9% from 2013 to 2019
There are approx. 50 million uninsured Americans
which are willing to go abroad for affordable and
quality medical care
900000 Americans traveled abroad for medical
care in 2013
Patients (US) traveling abroad can save from 30 to
90 percentage on a procedure, including their
travel expenditures
8. List of medical tourism destinations
(countries)
Asia- China, India, Israel, Jordan, Malaysia,
Singapore, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan,
Turkey, UAE, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan
The Americas- Argentina, Brazil,
Canada, Colombia, Mexico, United States
Europe- Belgium, Czech Republic,
Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Russia, Spain
Africa- South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Morocco
Others- Australia, Barbados, Cuba, Jamaica
9. Top Destinations By No. of tourists
THAILAND
MEXICO
USA
SINGAPORE
INDIA
MALAYSIA
BRAZIL
TURKEY
COSTA RICA
10. DESTINATION NO. OF VISITORS
(2012)
% SAVINGS TAKING USA
AS A BASE
THAILAND 1200000 50-70
MEXICO 1000000 40-65
USA 800000 -
SINGAPORE 610000 30-45
INDIA 400000 65-90
MALAYSIA 250000 65-80
BRAZIL 180000 25-40
TURKEY 110000 50-65
TAIWAN 90000 40-55
COSTA RICA 50000 40-65
COMPARISON TABLE
12. Country Treatment
Antigua Addiction and Recovery
Barbados Fertility/IVF
Brazil Cosmetic Surgery
Costa Rica Dentistry
Hungary Dentistry
India Orthopedics, Cardiology
Israel Fertility/IVF
Malaysia Health Screenings
Mexico Dentistry, Bariatric
Singapore Cancer
South Africa Cosmetic Surgery, Cardiac
Thailand Everything
Turkey Vision
Top destinations by treatment
13. Leading hospitals in world offering
medical tourism facilities are:
Prince Court Medical Center, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Asklepios Klinik Barmbek, Hamburg, Germany
Clemenceau Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
Fortis Hospital, Bangalore, India
Wooridul Spine Hospital, Seoul, Korea
Bumrungrad International, Bangkok, Thailand
Anadolu Medical Center, Istanbul, Turkey
Bangkok Hospital Medical Center, Bangkok,
Thailand
Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore
Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, India
14. Top Specialties for Medical
Travelers
COSMATIC SURGERY
DENTISTRY
CARDIOVASCULAR
ORTHOPEDICS
CANCER
REPRODUCTION
WEIGHT LOSS
SCANS, TESTS, HEALTH SCREENINGS AND SECOND OPINIONS
15. STEPS OF SEEKING TREATMENT WITH MEDICAL TOURISM
Patient prequel
Dest./hospital
selection
Arrange follow
up care
Travel to
selected
hospital
Treatment
Recovery
abroad
Travel back
Follow up care
16. India in medical tourism industry
The medical tourism industry in India is poised to
become the next success story after software/it
industry
Medical tourism has boosted with the number of
overseas patients touching 400000 in 2013 as against
10,000 in 2000
Apollo hospitals alone has treated 95,000
international patients in 2013
The current size of the Indian medical tourism sector
is Rs. 7,500 Crore and likely to touch Rs. 12,000 Crore
by 2015 with annual growth rate of 25 percent
India have more than 19 JCI accredited hospitals
and the no. is growing significantly
17. What is international accreditation?
The US based joint commission launched its
international affiliate agency in 1999, the joint
commission international (JCI).
In order to be accredited by the JCI, an international
hospital must meet the same set of rigorous standards
set forth in the US by the joint commission.
More than 500 facilities around the world have now
been awarded JCI accreditation and that number is
growing by about 20% per year
20. JCI ACCREDATED HOSPITALS IN INDIA
No. Name Location Date Of Accreditation
1 Aditya Birla Health Services Ltd. Pune, India Since 14 Dec 2012
2 Ahalia Foundation Eye Hospital Palakkad, India Since 31 Dec 2009
3 Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals Kolkata, India Since 23 Jan 2009
4 Apollo Hospital, Bangalore Bangalore, India Since 17 July 2008
5 Apollo Hospital, Chennai Chennai, India Since 28 Jan 2006
6 Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad Hyderabad, India Since 27 April 2006
7 Artemis Health Institute Gurgaon, India Since 11 Jan 2013
8 Asian Heart Institute Mumbai, India Since 19 Oct 2006
9 Fortis Escort Heart Institute New Delhi, India Since 19 Feb 2010
10 Fortis Hospital, Bangalore Bangalore, India Since 8 Feb 2008
11 Fortis Hospital, Mohali Mohali, India Since 14 June 2007
12 Fortis Hospital, Mulund Mumbai, India Since 25 Aug 2005
13 Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals New Delhi, India Since 17 June 2005
14 Medanta- The Medcity Gurgaon, India Since 30 Aug 2013
15 Moolchand Hospital New Delhi, India Since 4 Dec 2009
16 Narayan Institute Of Cardiac Sciences Bangalore, India Since 20 Jan 2011
17 Narayan Multispecialty Hospital, Jaipur Jaipur, India Since 26 July 2012
18 Satgur Partap Singh Apollo Hospital Ludhiana, India Since 2 Feb 2007
19 Sri Ramachandra Medical Center Chennai, India Since 6 Feb 2009
21. SWOT analysis of medical tourism in
India
Strengths:
Indian doctors are recognized as amongst the best at international levels; skilful,
qualified, share information with patients and are readily available, whenever
required.
High quality treatment in low cost.
Medical technology, equipment, facilities and infrastructure are at par with
international standards.
Doctors and staff good at English which makes it comfortable for tourists from
English speaking countries.
Because of absence of racial discrimination, customers, especially from Africa,
are comfortable in India
Education system provides 30,000 doctors and nurses each year which support
the growing medical sector in India.
Foreigners are also attracted to Indian Systems of Medicine like Ayurveda, Yoga.
22. Weakness:
As of 2011, India only had 19 JCI and 63 NABH accredited hospitals which
decreases the size of potential market especially for customers from
developed countries.
Though the Cost of treatment is less in India, other costs like
accommodation may prove to be inhibitive, especially for customers
from low income economies.
Maximum medical tourist is from non English speaking parts of the world
which highlights the need for training of linguists for example specialists of
Arabic.
Opportunities:
Cost of medical treatment in developed western world remaining high,
provides Indian medical tourism sector with a unique opportunity. Patients
from third world countries, where comparable quality medical care is not
available, seek treatment outside their home countries. They compare
western service providers with Indian service providers and find Indian
medical care cost effective.
The medical care facilities in other South Asian countries are also not up
to the mark. Patients from these countries find good quality care in
neighborhood, where travel time as well as the cultural divide is less.
23. Continued…
Employers in US are looking for ways to decrease their employees medical
expenses providing appropriate health coverage concurrently. Employers will
look for low cost care in India and other Asian countries.
Insurance companies in western countries are offering full cover and care in
home country at a higher premium payment. Insurance companies are
offering packages where customers can choose a lower premium but will
have to get them treated at hospitals with comparable quality outside the
country, with which they have tie-ups. Indian accredited hospitals can
choose to compete for a share of this segment.
Countries that operate public health-care systems are often so taxed that it
can take considerable time to get non-urgent medical care.
Threats:
Lack of infrastructure and visa problems.
High competition from other Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand,
Malaysia etc.
24. Conclusion
The medical tourism is an outsourcing medical services primarily
expensive surgery to low cost countries. It offers financial value for
growing burden of the costs in matured markets like USA. It also
provides an alternative for millions of uninsured people to receive
affordable and accessible medical services from developing countries.
Medical tourism sector in India is still in a nascent stage. The medical
tourism industry offers high potential for India primarily because of its
inherent advantages in terms of cost and quality. However in the wake
of mounting competition, there is a dire need of careful policy
intervention so as to reap the full benefits from inherent advantages
and enhanced capabilities.