Rating agency ICRA says medical tourism industry in India is flourishing and because of its known advantages it would be doubling in size by 2021. India has seen an increase in inflow of international patients, primarily from developing countries in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The primary drivers of the medical tourism industry in India are low cost of treatment, availability of the latest medical technologies, presence of a large pool of skilled medical professionals and the short waiting period.
Most commonly availed treatments by foreign patients visiting India are complex and high value procedures, such as bone marrow transplant, heart transplant, bypass surgery, spinal fusion, hip replacement, and knee replacement. For the large hospital chains analysed by ICRA, the revenue from international patients has grown at the rate of more than 20 per cent over the last three years.
According to K Ravichandran, Senior Vice-President and Group-Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA: “India has significant cost advantages in medical tourism as treatments here can be done at 60-90 per cent of the cost of such procedures in the USA. The medical tourism sector has been growing at the rate of more than 20% and is expected to continue to grow at the same rate thus doubling in size by 2021. The recently approved liberalised medical visa regulations by the Government of India allowing a 60-day stay (against 30 days earlier) and triple entry (against single entry earlier) will further provide impetus to the industry. This would present significant opportunities to hospital chains in India, particularly to large players in metros and Tier-I cities”.