Being a land of rich and varied cultural heritage, India is considered as one of the prominent tourist destinations. With general tourism on the rise, India also serves as the main hub for medical tourism. India’s advanced medical expertise with economical pricing attracts people from the second and third world countries. A report from Healthcare Radius states that India’s medical tourism market is expected to reach around USD 8 billion by 2020.
What is medical tourism?
Medical Tourism also known as health and wellness tourism, welcomes people from across the globe to other countries to get the best of medical, dental and surgical care, and at the same time, visit the local attractions of the country.
What places countries like India, Thailand, Philippines, and Singapore a cut above the rest in medical tourism is they offer inexpensive benefits. People often pick them over the expensive treatments or prolonged waiting offered in the first world countries. Let’s analyze how technology is aiding India and its medical tourism.
Rapid expansion in expertise
India as a country, embraced the English language as its official one. The end result is we have English speaking doctors, which still serves as a decision-making factor for people from the wealthy countries. Apart from this, India is renowned for world-class expertise in cardiac care, cosmetic surgery, joint replacements, neurological and orthopedic treatments and dentistry. Super-specialty hospitals are being established in the top cities and the highlight is there is no waiting period here, unlike the US/UK counterparts.
Technology as an enabler
Technology has penetrated medical tourism to provide the best of the facilities for the patients. Apart from Web 2.0, cloud computing, mobile technology, etc., India has better access to advanced medical technology devices. This happened due to the increase in potential and various government schemes, like Make in India, and the expansion of hospitality bill in the Union Budget. These external factors are bolstering medical tourism indirectly as they are enhancing our infrastructure drastically.
The wide availability of quality medical devices eventually turned out to be a catalyst for the growth of medical tourism. As mentioned earlier, schemes like Make in India paved a way for the latest technologies as it enables the National and International players to confidently invest in the local manufacturing. Since the devices are manufactured at an affordable price comparatively, the healthcare providers can also offer the best care at an affordable price for everyone. Like a chain of events, this phenomenon creates a positive impact about Indian healthcare and attracts more tourists seeking quality healthcare.
Attracting visitors from the developed countries
Do you know? The medical tourism market in India is estimated to be valued at $4 billion. Technology enhanced the market in a better way by making India not only self-sufficient in drug production, but also enabling it to export the products to over 150+ countries in a comparatively lower price than the first world pharmaceuticals.
Pushing boundaries through Cloud Networks
Expanding Cloud Technology is also one of the most prominent factors. The ease at which electronic medical record (EMR) can be made available worldwide and allowing to access the same on a real-time basis reduced errors and eradicated the need for extra/second-time diagnosis. The ability to access those records through Smartphone is anchoring a revolution in the healthcare industry.
There is always an ever-growing need for affordable, yet quality healthcare. Note, people want something to be affordable and not cheap! If countries like India can offer the same, the neglected populations of the countries like the US and UK will visit us for their healthcare needs. As we are already acting as a nerve center for the visitors from our neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Srilanka, Myanmar and Pakistan, this would possibly place the medical tourism as India’s next crown jewel.