The Hindu : Business : Call to tap potential of health tourism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006

Business

Business

Call to tap potential of health tourism

Special Correspondent

`State ideally suited for promoting medical tourism'

KOCHI: ``India can tap the emerging medical services outsourcing market and provide cost-effective health care services to U.S. corporates which are under pressure to reduce their medical cost. Indian hospitals should create exclusive infrastructure for corporate medical tourism that complies with international service and quality standards recognised by the international insurance industry,'' Philip Augustine, Chairman, CII [Confederation of Indian Industry] Kerala Health Tourism 2006 and managing director & chief executive officer, Lakeshore Hospital & Research Centre, Kochi, has said.

In a press release here on Monday, Dr. Augustine said that exclusive corporate medical tourism and medical services outsourcing infrastructure could include chartered flights and attractive tourism packages.

Pointing out the case of General Motors which recently sacked 20 per cent of its workforce, primarily to reduce its annual health care cost of over $5 billion, he said there was a huge demand from the U.S. corporates for cost-effective health care solutions, which could be met by low-cost health care destinations like India. The U.S. corporates have an opportunity to reduce the health- care cost by one-tenth by partnering with hospitals in India, where, for instance, a bypass surgery or kidney transplant is cheaper by 20 times. A joint-knee replacement in India costs Rs.2 lakhs whereas it is Rs.20 lakhs in the U.S.

He said that in order to tap the U.S. market, India has to create world-class corporate medical tourism centres with the latest technologies and adopt international health care service standards such as ISO and JACHO.

He said there was a conducive economic environment to create such capital intensive health-care facilities in India. Indian corporate hospitals can take advantage of the existing low interest rates and the boom in the construction industry. Most life-saving equipment attract a lower customs duty of just 5 per cent, and the latest medical equipment introduced in the U.S. are made available in India almost immediately. However, the biggest challenge for the Indian hospitals lies in adopting the international health care service quality standards. Though, the country can boast of the best brains in medicine, it has to upgrade its service standards even to serve the local population effectively.

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