Coming up next: Luxury hospital chains in India

Keen to tap into the growing body of tourists arriving in India to seek medical help, health trade experts are pushing to have a chain of luxury hospitals that will offer comfort with treatment. Discussions are going on with ministry officials, and two meetings have already been held. The third, scheduled to be held on November 18, has been rescheduled. 

Prominent health industry players are keen to have a accreditation of hospitals around the country, that will include a grading system which will grade the hospitals in different categories in order of the comforts and luxuries that they offer. No decision has however been reached yet.  

In a meeting of the National Medical and Wellness Tourism Board (NMWTB) held in July between health trade experts and tourism ministry officials, health trade body players have insisted that the tourism ministry helps facilitate them sell health and wellness packages to tourists that are willing to shell out. Trade body players also insisted that consular generals and embassy officials recommend prominent hospitals and health facilities among tourists in their countries willing to come to India for treatments, said a tourism ministry official. 

The Board was constituted to provide a dedicated institutional framework for wellness, ayurveda and medical tourism, apart from popularising Indian forms of medicines under the Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) ministry. The board has senior ministry officials of the tourism ministry, including the secretary, apart from culture ministry officials, members of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Services (NABH), representatives of medical associations, the medical industry, travel trade and commerce bodies like the IATO, HAI, FICCI, etc. 

The number of tourists arrivals in India on medical visas have seen a steep rise in the last three years alone. In 2013, 56,129 medical visas were issued, and there were 42,017 medical attendants. In 2014, the number of medical visas rose 25% to to 75,671. Medical attendants in 2014 rose 34% to 63,776. 

In 2015, the number of medical visas further rose 44% to 1,34,344, while the number of medical attendants went up 36% to 99,574. In the first six months of 2016, the number of medical visa issued again increased 30% to 96,856, while the number of medical attendants rose 29% to 70,535. 

In 2014, 56.2% of tourists arriving from Maldives were on a medical visa, while 49.6% and 34.2% of arrivals from Nigeria and Afghanistan were on a medical visa.