Tourism Ministry sets up sub-committees to boost wellness

Tourism Ministry today announced setting up of three sub-committees to look into issues of regulatory, accreditation and marketing to give a boost to the medical and wellness tourism sector of the country.
The announcement was made after the first meeting of National Medical and Wellness Tourism Promotion Board here today.
"Three sub-committees would be constituted immediately to look into the issues such as Regulatory; Accreditation and Marketing," an official release said.
The Ministry also emphasised on the role of government as a facilitator and highlighted the need for the private sector to continue to lead the medical and wellness tourism sector.

"The Board will function in an effective, responsible and time bound manner to find solutions for immediate concerns in the efforts of health and tourism sector," the release said.
"The Board also plans to build up a data bank of available resources in the field of medical and wellness services in the country and to develop mechanism to disseminate such information to the source markets," it said.

The Ministry observed that the health care delivery system in the country has improved due to which several countries now look East.
However, it was pointed out that a system needs to be devised to iron out the unevenness in the delivery system, the release said.

"It was reiterated by the Board members that more accredited hospitals, easy visa regime and providing linkages between service providers and the end user is the need of the hour," the Ministry noted.
The Board has also decided to have a single responsible body which is visible, accessible and through which the various medical systems which are interconnected can be reached by all.
"It also agreed on integrating the services under Ayurveda, Yoga and other systems. The Government needs to address the issue of sensitization of service providers, particularly in the field of Wellness and Ayurveda," the release said.
The Board members maintained that with an increase in the healthcare cost in developed countries, cost consciousness among patients seeking treatment and availability of accredited facilities has given rise to many global medical tourism corridors.

"Among these, India is one of the countries which have a large number of accredited facilities," they said.
Union government had constituted a 25-member National Medical and Wellness Tourism Promotion Board last year with personalities like yoga guru Ramdev, renowned cardiologists Dr Naresh Trehan, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty and Dr K K Aggarwal as its members, among others.