June 21st, celebrated as the National Yoga Day will see the launch of India’s first Medical Tourism and Wellness Policy. The government is all set to unveil host of measures to boost Medical Tourism and Wellness Initiatives in the country. The project aims to integrate Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy and related medical system under single umbrella. India’s first Medical Tourism Policy will build transparency with medical system in the country.
NDA government has decided to get hospitals and wellness centres to register with the ministry’s website and also notify costs at which procedures or packages will be offered by them. This is done to incentivise Medical Tourism and traditional Indian Wellness Programmes. Hospitals and Wellness Centers can put up their price structure, details of the procedure they follow along with their success rates. India’s First Medical Tourism Policy will allow complete transparency to consumers and act as an eye opener towards the most suitable treatment. Other initiatives likely to be announced include putting up e-visa counters for tourists traveling and issuing them prepaid SIM card immediately on arrival. They are also planning to design comprehensive web portal displaying all the medical facilities available in the country.
The NDA government has constituted The Medical Tourism and Wellness Board (MTWB) in 2016 which is headed by Mr. Mahesh Sharma, Independent Charge, MoS Tourism. The MTWB has suggested that medical care assistance providers should also be registered and trained by the Ministry of Tourism, in tandem with the Ministry of Health.
As part of the government’s initiative, the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) has started to accredit traditional wellness centres providing treatment and care in the areas of Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga and Homeopathy. Unani and Siddha are part of the programme as well.
Several prominent doctors and Ayurveda practitioners, including Baba Ramdev’s aide Balakrishan, Dr Naresh Trehan and Dr Devi Shetty were present at the meeting to initiate India’s First Medical Tourism Policy.
Medical Tourism in India has been growing sector. CII states that the main reason that attracts medical value travel to India is cost-effectiveness. The quality of treatment offered by accredited facilities in India is at par with developed countries but at lower cost. The Medical Tourism Market Report: 2015 found that India was “one of the lowest cost and highest quality of all medical tourism destinations, it offers wide variety of procedures at about one-tenth the cost of similar procedures in the United States.” The Medical Tourism Sector is projected to grow to $7–8 billion by 2020.
