Medical tourism set to become $2 billion industry

Growing at the rate of 25 per cent a year, medical tourism is on track to become a two billion dollars industry in another five years. An estimated 1,50,000 patients arrived in 2004 from across the globe from USA, UK, West Asia, Africa and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries for medical treatment in India, according to official figures.

In the same year, medical tourism was a $333-million strong market and the ministry said given its growth rate of 25 per cent it will emerge as $2billion market in 2012.

"A patient opting for medical tourism not only gets the best medical treatment the Indian doctors have to offer, but also as a post-treatment fare, he or she gets to see the best of India's destinations," Leena Nandan, Joint Secretary (Tourism), said.

The tourism ministry is also giving a big push to medical tourism highlighting its low-cost advantages. Nandan said, "Just like the IT expertise of India, the medical expertise of country too is well recognised abroad. And eventually this too translates into tourism in India."