Dr Anup Wadhawan, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, urged the healthcare industry to set up an online portal that will facilitate international patients coming to India for treatment. The portal will have relevant information and services to help patients plan their travel and treatment.
Speaking at the 5th International Summit on Medical Value Travel ‘Advantage Healthcare India 2019’ organized by FICCI jointly with the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Dr Wadhawan said, “Medical value travel is beyond just treatment, its treatment-plus and the industry should see what are the qualitative aspects that need to be improved in our healthcare services.” India has significant medical infrastructure, yet the majority of these are in the metro cities.
To provide comprehensive medical coverage, it is imperative that rural areas should also have access to the latest and affordable healthcare Dr Wadhawan added. “India has very strong traditional healthcare ways that will help in furthering the cause of healthcare not only in our country but also in the rest of the world,” said Ms Sangeeta Godbole, Director General, Services Export Promotion Council, Government of India.
Dr Sangita Reddy, President-elect, FICCI, & Joint Managing Director Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, said: “India is unparalleled in delivering quality medical care at one-tenth of the global cost and aims to transform this sector so that India becomes the epicenter of medical value travel.” “Concepts of telemedicine and online consultations are growing tremendously,” she added.
According to Dr Harish Pillai, Chair, FICCI MVT Committee, & Chief Executive Officer, Aster India, Aster DM Healthcare Ltd. The Indian medical and wellness market is growing, and medical value travel is also adding to this growth.
Dr Pillai added “India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing markets in medical value travel and the National Medical Value Travel Committee at FICCI has been giving recommendations to the government, advocating policy change in the sector.” ‘FICCI-EY Knowledge Paper on India: Building Best Practices in Healthcare Services Globally’ was also released during the event.
Dr Devlina Chakravarty, Former Co-chair, FICCI MVT Committee, & Managing Director, Artemis Hospitals, said that Indian hospitals have worked hard to deal with the issue of infection in hospitals and today the rate of infection has come down due to the stringent anti-microbial policy brought in by major hospitals across the country. Major source markets for India are countries from Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa, and SAARC region. More than 50% of medical travelers coming to India are from Bangladesh.
