Assignment about Mental Tourism

Running Head: MENTAL TOURISM
MENTAL TOURISM IN INDIA
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MENTAL TOURISM 2
Introduction
Medical tourism refers to the act of traveling overseas to get homeopathic treatment. In
the recent past, the latter used to refer to the people traveling from less developed countries to the
developed countries in the major medical centers to seek for medication which could not be
available in their home countries. However, today, medical tourism includes those traveling from
industrialized nations to less industrialized nations for medical treatment to take advantage of
lower hospital bills. The underlying motivation for this may also be that the medical treatment
required by the patient may not be available in the home country or may not be licensed. There
exist fundamental variations in the global therapeutic agencies on if a drug is permitted in their
nation or not.
In most cases, medical tourism is for surgeries or likened therapeutics, although people a
times travel for fertility or dental tourism. Individuals with rare conditions may also tour nations
where their condition is well comprehended (Kumar, 2015). Nevertheless, almost all types of
healthcare are available, including alternative medicine, psychiatry, and burial services.
Health tourism is a significant mode of tourism that focuses basically on the treatments
and utilization of healthcare services. The latter covers a broad range of conducive health
services (Mostafanezhad, Norum, Shelton, & Thompson, 2016). Health tourism covers a range
of preventive and curative forms of travel, among others. Several factors have led to the upsurge
in reputation of medicinal tourism, including the high cost of healthcare, prolonged waiting time
for some procedures, affordability of international travel, and technological improvements in
some countries (Ozer, 2015).

MENTAL TOURISM 3
Medical travel is a progressively rising segment in India. Research shows that in 2015,
the pharmaceutical sector in India was approximated to be valued at $ US 3 billion. The industry
is projected to grow three times and hit $ 9 billion by 2020 (Smith & Puczkó, 2014). The foreign
patients who visited India in 2015 were estimated to be roughly 496, 050 seeking medical
attention in the country. Some of the top countries whose citizens contributed the most extensive
group include Iraq, Kenya, Nigeria, and Yemen. To encourage medical tourism, the Indian
government eases the travel process for medical tourists. The federal government expanded its e-
tourism VISA regime so that it could cater for medical visas. The government allows medical
VISA travel for a stay of up to six months (Smith & Diekmann, 2017).
The promotion of medical tourism in India has assisted the private player is capitalizing
on the market opportunity. Statistics show that the private firms have attended up to 50,000
foreign patients in hospitals in the country. For instance, in 2018, Sanjay Dalmia's healthcare
firm initiated a medical treatment consultation to international patients and consequently
attracted many foreign patients (Khan, Chelliah, & Haron, 2016). The primary attractions in
India include the reduced costs of treatment, the availability of the latest medicinal pieces of
machinery, and the increasing acquiescence with the universal medical quality standards. Indian
Doctors are also well trained in Western countries like the United States and the United
Kingdom. There are also English speaking personnel, and this makes the foreigners not to face
any language barriers in India (Khan & Alam, 2014). The country has had to tout advanced
amenities, experienced medics, and low costs of treatment in addition to the traditional practices,
including Yoga and Ayurveda. In 2015, India was graded the third most prevalent terminus for
medical tourism.

MENTAL TOURISM 4
Demand and Supply of Health in India
In India, several studies on the utilization of healthcare have shown that the poor income
earners in the country spend a considerable proportion of their income on healthcare as compared
to wealthier households. For the poor households, treatment particularly in the inpatient care is a
burden to them (Ormond, 2014). Research shows that the poorest quartile of Indians is 2.7 times
more likely than the wealthy neighborhood to forego treatment if they fall sick. Research also
reveals that 40% of the individuals hospitalized in India have borrowed money or sold their
assets to cover the medical bills. The hospitalized individuals spent half of their annual income to
cater for the medical bills (Manhas & Ramjit, 2015).
The development of healthcare private health insurance will adversely affect the poor.
The past three decades have seen development in the healthcare system. However, there has been
a lack of assortment in the progression of a financing option has remained a fundamental
obstacle in India (Voigt, 2014). The insurance sector, which is aimed at promoting the market-
driven cover, can also have severe impacts on the deprived members of the community in the
utilization of healthcare services.
India has a twofold healthcare system encompassing; a public healthcare system whereby
care is free whereby the healthcare services are free or subsidized through the government-
operated facilities and also through the private sector whereby the expenses for the healthcare
system are paid fully through the out of pocket money by the entities or families (Dogra &
Dogra, 2015). The existing healthcare systems, however, apply to both the public and private
healthcare systems. The penetration level of India's healthcare system has however remained
tremendously low to make any move as a primary financing option primarily as a result of poor
development in the well-being segment program reform and obstipation inadequacies which