Heal In India: Opportunity For Medical Industry To Thrive

Heal In India is an initiative to boost medical tourism in India. This initiative is flagged-off by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to offer affordable medical surgeries to overseas patients. The Compound Annual Growth Rate of the Healthcare sector in India is 22% since 2016, and after this Heal In India Initiative is expected to rise.

The Government of India has allowed 100% FDI in the hospital sector which attracts international VCs and foreign investors to invest in India and bolster the overall healthcare sector. Moreover, the government is also aiming to spend 2.5% of GDP by 2025.

The larger picture depicts that India’s healthcare sector will witness a boom in the coming years and the concerned micro, small and medium-scale businesses will see steady business growth.

In this blog, we are going to discuss how the Heal In India Program will open new doors for healthcare, hospital, and pharmaceutical businesses in India.

Purpose Of the ‘Heal In India’ Initiative

For India, Heal in India Initiative brings double benefits. Firstly, it will give impetus to the local medical/pharmaceutical industry, and secondly, it will bring Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to India. The best part of the scheme is that overseas patients not only take advantage of allopathy medicines/surgeries but can also take traditional medicines/therapies from Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Sidha, and Homeopathy. This is how the world can heal by utilizing the ancient medicinal knowledge of India.

Impact Of COVID-19

When India was gripped in the clasp of COVID-19 companies like Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, Zydus Cadila, and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories produced vaccines and helped citizens to be immune against the virus. Moreover, India delivered vaccines to 94 countries and two UN entities under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ program.

Besides, India leveraged technology in tracking and tracing to restrict the spread of the virus. The open-source Aarogya Setu app was a boon to government agencies, helped them in contact tracing, and was enabled with a feature of self-assessment.

All these initiatives (especially Vaccine Maitri) uplifted the credibility of India and boosted medical tourism in India. Foreign tourist (for medical purpose) arrival increased over 6 times over a decade ending in 2019, said then Minister of State for Tourism, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in Lok Sabha.

Government Initiatives to Boost Medical Tourism

The following are the initiatives taken by the government to attract overseas patients:

A new segment of visa is introduced called ‘Medical Visa’ specially for foreign travelers visiting India for medical treatment.

The facility of E-Medical Visa is flagged off for 166 countries.

The National Medical & Wellness Tourism Board is constituted to promote the Indian system of medicine i.e AYUSH around the globe in an organized manner.

Platforms such as World Travel Mart, London, ITB, Berlin, and Arabian Travel Mart will be leveraged to promote health and medical tourism in the country.

Why Do Oversea Patients Choose India

One of the major advantages of India is the ability to deliver world-class healthcare facilities and services at affordable prices. Moreover, we offer an alternative healing system that strengthens India’s positioning among its peers.

Following is the comparison of prices of common medical procedures across major travel destinations for medical travel:

Procedure	India	Thailand	Malaysia	Turkey	S.Korea	Singapore
Heart Bypass	7900	15000	12100	13900	26000	17200
Angioplasty	5700	4200	8000	4800	17700	13400
Heart valve replacement	9500	17200	13500	17200	39990	16900
Hip replacement	7200	17000	8000	13900	21000	13900
Hip resurfacing	9700	13500	12500	10100	19500	16350
Knee replacement	6600	14000	7700	10400	17500	16000
Spinal fusion	10,300	9500	6000	16800	16900	12800
Dental implant	900	1720	1500	1100	1350	2700
Lap band	7300	11500	8150	8600	10200	9200
Gastric sleeve	6000	9900	8400	12900	9950	11500
Gastric bypass	7000	16800	9900	13800	10900	13700
Hysterectomy	3200	3650	4200	7000	10400	10400
Breast implant	3000	3500	3800	4500	3800	8400
Rhinoplasty	2400	3300	2200	3100	3980	2200
Rhytidectomy	3500	3950	3550	6700	6000	440
Liposuction	2800	2500	2500	3000	2900	2900
Abdominoplasty	3500	5300	3900	4000	5000	4650
Lasik	1000	2310	3450	1700	1700	3800
IVF Treatment	2500	4100	6900	5200	7900	14900

*Price in USD

Source – NITI AAYOG

Benefits to Overseas Patients for Availing Medical Services In India

There are over 40 countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Brazil, etc competing against India, in spite of it, they are likely to choose India due to the following reasons:

Cost

The cost of medical services in India is far less than in the US and UK. Compared with our current competitors, the price of almost all the services are lesser (see table above).

Travel Arrangements

The government provides a special visa facility to patients and their blood relatives under which they can visit a maximum of three times during one year of validity of the medical visa.

Language

Despite India’s diversity of languages, English is a widely spoken language. And almost all medical professionals speak English fluently thus, there is no language barrier.

Quality Treatment

India is home to 39 JCI-accredited hospitals which gives assurance to overseas patients that the service will be the best in the world. Once the treatment is over patients can take guidance via telemedicine.

Top 5 Medical Tourism Destination In India

Following are the top medical destination identified by the Government of India:

Chennai

According to Wikipedia, 45% of medical tourists prefer Chennai for medical treatment. That is why it is known as India’s Health Capital. The following are the salient features of medical service in Chennai:

• Experienced team of surgeons
• Round-the-clock multilingual helpdesk
• The world’s best medical hospitals are equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure

Bangalore

Most of the senior doctors in Bangalore have been trained in western countries and its top top-class medical facilities make it one of the top destinations for overseas health tourists.

Delhi

Delhi’s hospitals have secured rankings in JCI, moreover, one can get minor medical services such as eye surgery to major ones like neurosurgery in the national capital itself.

Mumbai

Mumbai is widely known for its cosmetic surgeries, weight reduction treatment, and Ayurvedic healing. Besides, diagnostic and research centers are opening gradually.

Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad is home to many multi-specialty hospitals and is steadily rising as a preferred destination for overseas tourists seeking medical services.

Following is the list of cities which will witness an increase in footfall of foreign tourists seeking medical treatments:

• Nagpur
• Nashik
• Kolkata
• Cochin
• Pune
• Hyderabad

Summing Up

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