India may have taken a lead in medical tourism, but insurance companies are reluctant to cover the cost of treatment of the foreign patients, which is proving to be a major impediment in development of the sector. | |
| "It is estimated that in 2002 as many as 150,000 medical tourists travelled to India bringing in earnings of $300 million," a high-level group of the Planning Commission said in a report. According to a CII-McKinsey report, this figure would go up to $2 billion by 2012, the group said. |
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| The government has moved to provide visa facilities for the medical tourists. The main clientele comes from the SAARC countries but an increasing number of NRIs settled in the United States and Britain have also been availing of the healthcare services in India. There is a good prospect of patients coming from West Asia in the future. |
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| The cost savings involved in getting treatment done in India is bound to result in the insurance company imposed barriers breaking down in the future. "Already some hospitals are entering into alliance with international insurance companies to make it possible to send patients to India for treatment," it said. |
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| The competitiveness of India in medical value travel is enhanced by the attractiveness of the alternative systems of medicine, Ayurveda in particular, for the foreign tourists. |
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| A large number of tourists, both domestic and foreign, undergo treatment under Ayurveda not only for improving their fitness and well-being but also for curing many types of chronic diseases, the group which submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday said. |
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| For the regulation of Ayurveda clinics and for ensuring that they employ techniques in accordance with traditional methods the Ministry of Health has issued guidelines to be used by the states. |
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