India, a Medical Tourism Hotspot for Westerners
A developing nation like India is now among the most preferred destinations for undergoing medical treatment by most people from the western countries. This is mainly because of its affordable medical costs, the accessibility of latest medical technologies, and a growing fulfillment on international quality standards, as well as the fact that foreigners are less likely to face a language barrier in India.
In India, the cost of a treatment is estimated to start at ten times lower than that of the cost of the treatment in developed countries like the United States of America and the Great Britain. The growing numbers of medical tourists tend to be those people who do not have insurance covers or those whose insurance do not adequately cover the procedure they need.
Alternative medicine, bone-marrow transplant, cardiac bypass or heart surgery, eye surgery and hip replacement are some of the most popular treatments sought after in the country. The country is particularly well known for heart surgery, hip replacement and other areas of advanced medical care. Further, cost effectiveness is very much needed in India where over two-thirds of the population lives on less than $2 a day and 86 percent of health care is paid out of pocket by individuals.
Today, healthcare systems around the world face the challenge of delivering better quality care with limited resources. Ministers of Health in most of the countries are constantly on the lookout for ways to combat the trend of the ever-increasing cost of healthcare driven by major trends like unhealthy lifestyles and an ageing population. India too is not away from the challenge of finding low-cost yet high-quality models for delivering healthcare. But still, many hospitals like Vaatsalya, Glocal Healthcare, Eye-Q have come up to provide affordable health care with up-to date medical technologies.
Narayana Health, started by Dr.Devi Shetty, an Indian heart surgeon and businessman, is one of the medical centres especially designed for heart ailments, and is very well known for its best in class and affordable treatment. An artery-clearing coronary bypass surgery costs just
95, 000 (about $1,583) at Narayana Health whereas at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic, the same procedure costs about $106,385 as per the data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
"Global health-care costs are rising rapidly and as countries move toward universal health coverage, they will have to face the challenge of providing health care at a fairly affordable cost," added Reddy.
In India, Chennai has been named the health capital. Multi- and super-specialty hospitals across the city bring in an estimated 150 international patients every day. This city attracts about 45 percent of health tourists from abroad arriving in the country and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. Low cost, less waiting period and facilities offered at the specialty hospitals in the city are the main factors behind the tourists' inflow in the city.
The government of India in order to boost medical tourism in the country has removed visa restriction on tourist visas and also introduced a visa-on-arrival scheme for tourists from some selected countries that will allow them to stay in India for 30 days for medical related reasons. This in a way will not just improve the economy of the country but also help foreign nationals gain easy access to medical treatment in India.
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