Medical Tourism for Non Resident Indians NRIs

Soaring medical cost in countries like U.S. has made India the next prominent destination for medical tourism . Millions of NRI plan their medical treatment and surgeries in India to get treated by lower healthcare costs available and at the same time enjoy their recuperative holidays across India.

Medical Tourism is a form of health tourism commonly referring to the travel of people to another country for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment in that country. Traditionally, people would travel from less-developed countries to major medical centers in highly developed countries for medical treatment that was unavailable in their own communities. The recent trend is for people to travel from developed countries to third-world countries for medical treatments because of cost consideration, though the traditional pattern still continues. Another reason for travel for medical treatment is that some treatments may not be legal in the home country, such as some fertility procedures. Factors that have led to the increasing popularity of medical travel include the high cost of health care, long wait times for certain procedures, the ease and affordability of international travel, and improvements in both technology and standards of care in many countries.

WHY INDIA?

There are various factors leading to the increased influx of patients from other countries seeking treatment in India. Some of the developed countries require extremely high costs for major procedures like cardiac surgeries, dental treatment, etc. Coming to India and obtaining the same treatment reduces the patient’s costs by as much as 50%, without compromising on the quality of treatment. With comparatively lower hospital costs, patients visiting India are also able to afford better quality services like extended hospital stay during recovery and rehabilitation, which would otherwise be extremely expensive in their home country. Another major reason for growth of this sector in India is availability of highly qualified doctors who are in sync with the latest technologies and procedures. Thus it is a promising sector for India, poised to reach USD 6 billion by the year 2018.

Medical tourism seems to be a superior option for people staying abroad, who are not insured as there is a very high cost of difference in the medical facilities offered in India and abroad. There are also considerable delays in getting treatment in some western countries due to financial and hospital backlogs of patients waiting for medical procedures. In the UK every medical treatment has to be routed via the NHS (National Health Service). Hence one treatment has every chance of getting delayed.

India and Thailand are the two countries who definitely have an edge over its counterparts both in terms of the number of hospitals and the cost advantage. Among the cities, its Delhi who receives highest number of medical tourists as it has better air connectivity; this is followed by Chennai and Hyderabad.

So identify the city and the hospital depending upon the availability of the treatment, the cost and the success rate and also do not forget to check the credentials of the hospital and consultants.

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