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Practising Medical Tourism: A Resounding Success
EHM News Bureau - Mumbai
Delegates listen attentively at
‘Practising Medical Tourism’ conference
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It was a meeting ground of intellectuals debating and deliberating
on trends, potential, roadblocks and the future of Medical Tourism in India.
‘Practising Medical Tourism’, organised by Express Healthcare Management
of The Indian Express Group, was a stupendous success. Everyone of the over
80 delegates sat glued to their seats, absorbing every word and information,
questioning constantly and getting their doubts answered. They thanked us profusely
for organising such a unique conference.
The speakers were the best from the industry. Dr Bhaskar Shah,
Director, Asian Heart Institute. Anil Kamath, Senior Vice-President and Business
Head, Wockhardt Hospitals, Anil Maini, President, Corporate Development, Apollo
Hospitals Group (Delhi ) and Dr Premhar Shah, Medical Director and CEO of The
Medical Tourist Company. A separate session on dental tourism had Dr A Kumarswamy,
Clinical Director, The Chicago Centre for Advanced Dentistry and Dr Ajay Kakar,
Director, Sanjeevani Dental Clinic. All the brain-storming sessions were moderated
by the suave Anupam Verma, Honorary Secretary of Maharashtra Medical Tourism
Council.
The Sessions
The sessions started with the key note address by Anupam Verma, who informed
the audience about the initiatives taken by Maharashtra Medical Tourism Council
and set the ball rolling by introducing the speakers.
How An Institute Should Prepare Itself For MT
Speaking on the subject “How an institute should prepare itself for medical
tourism” Dr Bhaskar Shah, said, “The scope and concept of Medical
Tourism (MT) has today transgressed and evolved from healing by mineral and
hot spring in the Neolithic and Bronze Age to today’s health farms. India
is hoping to expand its tourist industry to include visitors with heart conditions
and cataracts. Indeed, MT where foreigners travel abroad in search of low cost,
world-class medical treatment is gaining popularity in countries like India.
Dr H K V Narayan, Medical
Superindentent, Tata Memorial Hospital, asks a question
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The concept is likely to have broad consumer appeal, if people
can overcome their prejudices about healthcare in developing countries. More
and more tourists are choosing India as their medical treatment destination
because it has a rich cultural heritage and innumerable tourist destinations.
The other advantages are that most of metros have good infrastructure, majority
of population speak English and Indian surgeons have world class skills and
surgical exposure, he added.
India should provide the best of Eastern and Westerm healthcare systems. Ayurveda,
Yoga and Siddha can be India’s gift to the world. “Ayurveda is recognised
as an official healthcare system in Hungary. Doctors in the West are increasingly
prescribing Indian Systems of Medicine. More than 70 per cent of the American
population prefer a natural approach to health,” he added. Americans are
said to spend around USD 25 bn on non-traditional medical therapies and products.
Low-cost cardiac surgery in India costs USD 4,000 – 9,000 and in the US
as high as USD 30,000 – 50,000 and orthopaedic surgery costs as low as
USD 4,500 with a corresponding surgery in the US with USD 18,000. Besides this,
the cost Comprehensive Health Check-up for US patient in India is USD 80, which
costs USD 600 in the US. The MT business has gained more strength in the context
of National Health Policy declaring treating of foreign patients an ‘export’
and therefore eligible for fiscal incentives on export earnings. Further deregulation
makes it easier to import most modern medical equipment.
“Some of the challenges in MT which need to be addressed are the perceived
lack of regulation in the healthcare industries, perceived lack of controls
and loopholes in the regulation of medical professionals and perceived widespread
of unethical professional behaviour and lack of infrastructure facilities,”
concluded Dr Shah.
Hospital Economics In MT
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Satish Kini, Director, NovellaHMS,
Mumbai voices his opinion on MT
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Speaking on the subject of “Hospital Economics in Medical
Tourism”, Anil Kamath, pointed out that good news about India is that medical
tourism is growing at a rate of 7.5 per cent to 8.0 per cent with healthcare
growing at a rate of 20 per cent. MT has also received a boost with corporatisation
of the hospitals sector and interest of international players with reference
to investment and foreign direct investment.
The medical tourism market is estimated to grow by USD 2.2 bn with a corresponding
increase in the healthcare market by USD 60 bn by 2012. The growing international
competition is another attribute with India facing a stiff competition with
the East Europe having approximately half of US tariffs, Thailand having approximately
1/8th of US tariffs and India having 1/10th US tariffs. The comparative cost
analysis of the commonest surgical procedures in the US, Thailand and India
reveals that the cost of Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) is Rs three lakh USD in
the US, 62, 500 USD in Thailand and Rs 30,000 USD in India. Besides this, heart
surgeries in the US costs USD 30,000 in Thailand costing USD 14,500 USD and
in India having as low as USD 5,000. Hip replacement costs USD 20,000 in the
US, USD 7,000 in Thailand and USD 4,500 in India, he added. He asked the audience:
Is MT a new hype in the healthcare sector. “No, It can be the next boom
in India with over one million visitor coming to India last year.” To give
a fillip to MT, India needs to have better roads, airports, transportation,
flight schedules, connectivity, trained hospitality at all points and response
networking, he added.
MT: Challenges And the Road Ahead
Speaking on the subject of “Medical Tourism: Challenges and the Road Ahead”,
Anil Maini, said, “MT has gained prominence with the advent of cuttind
edge technologies in India in specialties like cardiology, oncology, neurology,
molecular and receptor imaging, which have improved sensitivity and specificity,
early diagnosis, accurate and precise staging in oncology, significant input
in decision making, evaluation of treatment outcome and improved morbidity and
mortality.”
Hospitals have also aggressively started taking up accreditation in order to
ensure the flow of medical tourists in the country. Apollo Indraprastha Hospitals,
New Delhi after getting Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation gets
40 to 60 patients per week from abroad. “We generate an income of Rs 30
crore per annum from MT. We have set a target of Rs 40 crore in the next four
years,” informed Maini. Apollo Hospitals is the largest corporate healthcare
group in Asia having its branches in 38 locations across the country.
Facilitating Flow Of Medical Tourists In India
Speaking on the subject of “Facilitating flow of medical tourists in India,”
Dr Premhar Shah started by thanking the Indian Express Group for thinking ahead
of its times by organising such a conference. The traits that a prospective
medical tourists look for are quality of work and hospitals, affordability,
easy access, easy mode of payment and follow-up answers to their queries. The
benefits offered by India to western patients are significant savings compared
to their domestic private healthcare, no waiting time, access to state of the
art facilities and technology, choice of luxury air-conditioned room and round-the-clock
service. The main deterrents to MT are poor airports and infrastructure, non-medical
people getting into the business, unnecessary investigation and treatment, no
replies to follow-ups and Indian doctors not providing sufficient information
to patients. The threats to India are the practice of Indian hospitals raising
their prices every now and then, while treatment in Eastern European countries
like Poland and Hungary are good and cheap, with France being just around 25
per cent costlier.
Tooth, Tourism And Trade - Destination India
Speaking on the subject of “Tooth, Tourism and Trade- Destination India”,
Dr Ajay Kakar and Dr A Kumarswamy said dental tourism has got a boost with dental
treatment having comparable expertise, high technology and high value for treatment
costs. Dental tourism in the country got a boost due to factors like Indians
with foreign postings, NRI’s and foreign nationals of Indian origin, foreign
nationals working in India, casual tourists, dental tourists coming to India
for treatment, said Dr Kakar. “For a population of one billion, there are
currently over 60,000 dentists with 15,000 dentists in metros and 5,000 dental
specialists, which include orthodontists, peridontists, endodontists, prosthodontists,
dental surgeons and pedodontists, said Dr Kumarswamy.
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Anupam Verma, Hon Secretary, Maharashtra Medical
Tourism Council, Mumbai
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Dr Ajay Kakar, Director, Sanjeevani Dental Clinic,
Mumbai
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Dr Bhaskar Shah, Director, Asian Heart Institute,
Mumbai
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Anil Kamath, Sr Vice-President & Business
Head, Wockhardt Group, Mumbai
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Dr Premhar Shah, Medical Director & CEO,
The Medical Tourist Company, UK
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Anil Maini, President, Corporate Development,
Apollo Hospitals Group, New Delhi
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Dr A Kumarswamy, Clinical Director, The Chicago
Center for Advanced Dentistry, Mumbai
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