After witnessing a major slump during the global lockdown amid COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing Unlock in India is helping the medical tourism sector get back on its feet. By Tanvi Jain
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India’s medical tourism sector, which was hit hard during the global lockdown in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, is slowly showing signs of recovery amid the ongoing Unlock in the country. Due to the reopening of borders and the establishment of bilateral bubbles with select nations, private hospitals here have now started taking in patients from other countries as well.
In a recent report by the Indian Express, as per the Ministry of Tourism, “The country got 6.97 lakh, foreign patients, on the medical visa in 2019, accounting for 6.9 per cent of foreign tourist arrivals. While there are no official numbers yet for 2020, by all estimates, COVID-19 brought the medical tourism sector to a halt in mid-March, when international travel froze and major centres such as Delhi and Mumbai turned into hotspots.”
Further quoting data by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Financial Express mentioned, “In 2015, the number of Foreign Tourist arrivals for medical purpose in India were 2,33,918, in 2016, the figures went up to 4,27,014, in 2017, the numbers were 4,95,056.”
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However, as far as this year’s numbers are concerned, the Coronavirus outbreak had initially resulted in them taking a downward slope. “The medical tourism sector came to a standstill due to the lockdown. This has impacted not just India but Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries also which have a thriving medical tourism sector. While there is easing out of the lockdown, it will take government level discussions to help bring patients in for treatment,” Apollo Hospitals Group’s Joint MD Sangita Reddy had earlier told PTI.
“Malaysia has seen some patients coming in for open-heart surgery from Brunei as a direct result of government-level discussions. Similarly, in India, there is a need for government support to ensure that medical value tourism in India gets back on its feet, which is still nascent in India and holds great potential,” she had added, also further pointing out that, “As the world unlocks, we will see a gradual increase in patients, all taking due precautions, turn to India for their treatments. In a world where people have become increasingly cost-conscious, India offers a significant advantage with high quality, high-value care.”
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Meanwhile, during the ninth edition of Kerala Health Tourism programme, recently organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Kerala Health Minister KK Shailja said that — “the state offers a huge scope in Medical Value Tourism (MVT) as it has been the safest place during COVID-19 with only 0.36 per cent mortality rate. Kerala’s demographic features can attract more foreign tourists and its expertise in indigenous medicine can play a vital role to woo travellers,” The Hindu BusinessLine reported.
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