The medical tourism industry in India has a potential to contribute around 25 per cent in the country's GDP (gross domestic product) over the next five years if the potential will be fully-tapped, according to Varsha Lafargue, founder and chairperson of Indian Medical Tourism Conference and Alliance (IMTCA).
"Currently, the medical tourism sector is highly unorganised, where only a handful of hospitals and doctors are reaping benefits. Given the existing infrastructure, highly skilled doctors and medical professionals and low-cost health services, if the potential will be fully tapped, the sector may see a five-fold increase in its contribution to GDP from the current less than five per cent contribution," she said.
Medical tourism boom is happening in other Asian countries including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, whereas India is loosing out to its competitors due to many factors.
The sector faces with shortcomings such as - no transparency in billing system, low patient flow, no common platform available to promote country's medical tourism as a whole, inadequate and limited patient documentation, etc, she said.
She pointed out that medical tourism has become a major source of national income in many countries such as Israel and Jordan, where Jordan gets 5 per cent of its GDP from medical tourism and Israel gets in a double-digit number.
According to estimates, India’s share in the global medical tourism industry will reach around 3 per cent by the end of 2013. The growth of medical tourism industry is marked globally, encompassing around 50 countries in all continents. Asia itself generates revenues in billions and consists of 12.7 per cent of the global market. The major healthcare players in India such as Apollo and Fortis have reported 10 per cent of their revenue coming from the medical tourism segment.
The economic contribution through an organized medical tourism system would be able to generate revenues in billions of dollars in the coming year, Lafargue said.
IMTCA is a not-for-profit international multidisciplinary organization that promotes excellence in research, treatment and provision of better and alternative healthcare, provides education and training, acts as a platform for doctors and international patients, and creates awareness on global opportunities.
IMCTA, which started recently, has 75 members for its first chapter. "We plan to conduct two-three conferences a year across cities and aim to get around 300-400 members per conference," she said.