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Among the different theme-strands a country picks up to promote its tourism, India has chosen healthcare, though, informally, medical tourism to India has been a norm in the UAE for over three generations now. Members of the UAE royal families as well as local Arabs have frequented India owing to its proximity, low cost but worldclass hospitals and expert medicare facilities - Mumbai being one of the most common destinations.

Sultan Ahmed, Union Minister of State for Travel and Tourism, Government of India, reiterated the importance India is placing on medical tourism by undertaking several promotional and marketing initiatives to highlight potential tourism products – one of them being a Marketing Development Assistance(MDA) scheme, to include medical tourism in its purview. The MDA shall provide financial assistance to medical tourism service providers (MTSP) i.e. representatives of hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission for International Accredited Hospitals (JCI) and National Accreditation Board Hospitals (NABH) as well as medical tourism facilitators (travel agents, tour operators approved by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and engaged in medical tourism)

Shreemati Teacher, the Kerala Minister for Health, Family Welfare,Medical Education, Indigenous Medicine, Drugs Control, Pollution Control, Homoeopathy, Naturopathy and Social Welfare stressed the importance of the over 5,000-year-old science of ayurveda that is increasing in popularity in this region. “A small strip of spas at Calicut in Kerala is extremely popular among Arabs and daily flights to Calicut from this region address this population,” she states. A fact that she hopes is replicated in various Indian cities as well.

Estimates claim that the treatment cost in India starts around one tenth of the price in America or Britain – in the fields of cardiac care, cosmetic surgery, joint replacement and dentistry. “In fact, there is a case of reverse brain drain in India as experienced Indian medical professionals the world over are ready to come back to India to be part of worldclass hospitals in India,” says Vivek Jawali, a well-known cardio-thoracic and vascular surgeon from Wockhardt Hospital in Bangalore. Jawali performed the world’s first awake major open heart surgery and receives several patients the world over who vouch for the cost-effectiveness and safety India has to offer in terms of health care.

“In the wellness department, yoga, ayurveda and naturopathy etc have already carved a niche in the world markets, “says Dr Issac Mathai, a renowned holistic physician who runs Soukya, a holistic health clinic that practises ayurveda and homeopathy as well as yogic sciences. “Ayurveda is practised in different parts of India in different ways. In Kerala, it has had a continuous tradition. It has been proven effective in several ailments like arthritis, multiple sclerosis etc.”

To help connect providers, patients, employers, insurers, corporate referrals and third party brokers, is the newly formed  Indian Medical Traveller’s Association that associates with a professional and expert body representing all stakeholders in the Indian medical travel industry. India Tourism’s handy brochures that lists hospitals from select cities in India is a bid to promote the same. M Sadana, India Tourism’s Regional Director, (East Asia, West Asia and Africa) in the foreword states that emergence of the private sector has made India a choice for tourists from all over the globe, and it is its price factor that tilts the scale in India’s favour.

With an integrated approach that blends the most modern in healthcare facilities with traditional forms of holistic healing and liasioning with allied sectors like hospitality, transport etc, India looks forward to welcoming the new wave of medical tourists.