Unhealthy playing field

Commonwealth Games-linked development in basic infrastructure in and around Delhi was expected to become one of the key triggers for the growth of medical tourism in Delhi’s corporate hospitals. Now, the same hospitals that had expected the inflow of foreign patients to swell soon after the Games are saying bad press, which they hadn’t anticipated, coupled with reports of widespread dengue, have damaged India’s image as an ideal healthcare destination. “We have gone 10 years backward in terms of the growth of medical tourism because of the Commonwealth chaos,” says a Delhi-based doctor who runs a tertiary hospital.