Nearly five lakh foreign patients seeking "dirt-cheap" treatment have visited India in the last one year, boosting efforts to make the country a major health tourism destination.
Though the trend of foreigners coming to India for treatment has gained momentum only in the last five years, the country is giving a tough competition to other medical hotspots like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
"Medical travel in the country is picking up as an attractive option for NRIs and foreign patients and nearly five lakh of them came here in search of dirt-cheap treatment in the last one year," said Pradeep Thukral, executive director of Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA).
"A heart surgery which can cost as much as 30,000 pounds in the UK and up to USD 60,000 in the US, and a hip replacement that can cost over USD 60,000 in America, costs between USD 3,000 and USD 10,000 and USD 15,000 respectively in India," Thukral said.
The recent economic slowdown has also forced corporate, insurance groups as well as out of pocket individuals in the developed world to hunt for better value for their money and India is offering the best deal to them.
"As a result, the foreign patients arrival is growing at 40 per cent plus rate annually and the sector is expected to touch USD two billion by 2012 as per a McKinsey survey," he said.
When US citizen Kathleen Dodds (42) was diagnosed with a fibroid tumour last year, she found herself in a bind as she was not insured and the cost of surgery was very high -- USD
30,000.
Kathleen found an affordable solution thousands of miles away in India through 'IndUSHealth'. Dodds flew out to Apollo Hospital in Delhi, where she had a successful hysterectomy
just for USD 9,000, including round-trip airfare and hospital stay.
"I was treated with more care and attention than I had ever experienced in the US that was also without much strain on my pocket," she said.
Besides low treatment cost, availability of world-class hospitals with latest technology and highly-skilled doctors are contributing to more foreigners visiting the country for treatment.
Over 100 top private hospitals such as Apollo Hospitals, Max Healthcare and Fortis are catering to the medical needs of such patients, including complicated operations like hip replacements surgery, spinal work, bypass or valve
replacements, plastic surgery and even cancer cure.
The success rate of these hospitals, which
boosts of highly efficient doctors, is also very high. According to an Apollo staff, in case of heart surgery, the success rate is over 98 per
cent.
German national Maria Rosemarie, who had undergone a hip replacement at Max recently, could not stop praising the efficiency and caring attitude of Indian doctors.
"The people I have been taken care by -- the doctors, nurses and service boys, everyone without exception have been very polite and I was touched by their efforts. Back home, I will recommend all of my friends to come to India if they ever need any such treatment," Rosemarie said.
But it is not easy to achieve the target of touching USD two billion in the next two years as projected by the McKinsey survey, the IMTA official said.
"To speed up the growth, India will have to position itself as the best provider for high-end treatments like cardiac surgery, orthopaedic and spinal work and cancer care as no other country can deliver the quality and value we offer," Thukral said.
"We should leave the low end stuff like plastic and cosmetic surgery to Thailand and others".
At the infrastructure level too much work is required, including liberalisation of visa regulations, avoidance of long queues at airports for immigration, etc.
"Today most visitors to Thailand and Singapore do not need a visa in advance to go there for medical treatment as they are offering visa on arrival. Getting an Indian visa from
our overseas consulates is the biggest hassle for a potential patient," he said.
"The recently announced Tourist Visa-on-Arrival for citizens of five countries -- Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore -- is a great step in this direction but
this scheme should be extended to other countries as well," he said.