Health Economics and Finance: Medical Tourism in India Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of medical tourism in India, examining its historical context, causes, and current trends. It delves into the factors driving medical tourism, such as cost-effectiveness, access to advanced treatments, and shorter waiting times. The report explores the ...Read More

HEALTH
ECONOMICS AND
FINANCE

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................4
2. CAUSES OF MEDICAL TOURISM..........................................................................................4
3.HEALTH TOURISM IN INDIA..................................................................................................5
4.BENEFITS OF MEDICAL TOURISM.......................................................................................6
5.CHALLENGES IN THE SECTOR OF HEALTH TOURISM IN INDIA..................................6
Implication of medical tourism in demand and supply of Health care in nation........................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

1. INTRODUCTION
Topic: Medical tourism and its implications in demand and supply of health care in India.
India has been referred to as the one of the historical destination for medical tourism. There
is a growth of around 20% within the medical care. The medical tourism industry in turn is
expected to be worth around 9 billion by 2020. The government of India spends huge degree of
money within the health care sector which helps in providing the best possible services to the
medical tourist. However, Afghanistan and Bangladesh is considered to be as the top countries
from where large number of medical tourist arrive. This study will focus on evaluating the key
causes of the medical tourism. It will also critically examine the health tourism within India.
Moreover, this study will determine the key benefits associated with the medical tourism and
also the challenges within the health sector of India. Moreover this study will also focus on
evaluating key implications in demand and supply of health care in order to attract international
patients.
2. CAUSES OF MEDICAL TOURISM
One of the key reason for medical tourism because it tends to largely result in low degree of
cost care. The quality of medical care has been increasing across the globe. The rapid change
within the technology and advancement in drugs has really increased in past years. Various
residents of country poses care my travel abroad in order to avoid wait times. Providing high-
quality of care services and obtaining investigational and experimental treatments for the
diseases which doesn’t happen proven outcomes like cancer, HIV, AIDS (Moghavvemi,
Sedigheh, Meghann Ormond, Ghazali Musa, Che Ruhana Mohamed Isa, Thinaranjeney
Thirumoorthi, Mohd Zulkhairi Bin Mustapha, and Jacob John Chiremel Chandy, (2017)).
Medical tourists also travel abroad for their treatment in order to recover health insurance. Asian
countries in particular tends to have a lot of advancement within their economy over the past
years. Medical tourism is very useful because it helps in gaining immediate access to the
healthcare services. The medical tourism is gaining high degree of popularity because it is
treating various number of people from abroad every year. Medical tourism also helps in
eliminating the inconvenience of going to hospital for assessment and evaluations. Medical
tourism also helps in providing special treatment with low consultation fees. Medical tourism is
also very useful in providing immediate accessibility to the health care services. In United States
there are long waiting list in order to provide medical and healthcare services to the people. This

in turn eventually helps in providing best possible treatment to the patient seeking care. Inbound
medical tourist is also one of the most challenging and prominent measure which is considered to
be very prominent in seeking the high degree of medical technology and skills. People engaging
and complying with the medical tourism focus on engaging it with the key therapies such as yoga
in order to improve the health condition of the individual person.
3.HEALTH TOURISM IN INDIA
India has been considered to be as the one of the historical destination for medical tourism.
It is a considered to be as the constant stream for health travellers who has been seeking better
quality care treatment at an affordable price. The doctors of the India in turn are considered to be
as one of the most recognized doctor at an international level who provide best medical care to
the patient. However, equipment, medical technology, infrastructure and care facilities in India
are at par by attaining various set of international standards. India tends to have an incredible
heritage of providing ancient traditional treatment methods like Yoga, Siddha, Ayurveda and
Homeopathy (Vitthal, Patil Chetan, Amrutkar Rupesh Subhash, Bhavna R. Sharma, and M.
Ramachandran, (2015)). The e- medical visa for travellers has add to high degree of ease to the
medical travellers from around 166 countries. India is on the right path in order to become a
destination choice associated with the medical tourism. Moreover, India is rightly referred to as
“the pharmacy to the world”. India focuses on providing the world with affordable and quality
care services by effectively integrating all the efforts of government, regulators, service
providers, health industry, etc. The key leading destination associated with the medical tourism
in India are New Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. India tends to
receive medical tourist from across the globe and underdeveloped and developing countries tends
to become major part of the medical tourist. India is referred to as one of the most prominent
player within the medical tourism industry who strives to focus on providing various health care
services by using cut edge technology. Medical tourism of India is growing fast and also
becoming famous across the globe. By the end of the year 2022, it has been predicted to grow up
to dollar 7 billion to $ 8 billion. The treatments which are given in India are very cost-effective
and also high end technologies are used for surgeries and treatment of the patient (Amiri,
Mohammad, and Najmeh Safariolyaei. (2017)). The standards for treatment are at par with in
India and overall cost of the treatment is considered to be very low. The hospitality services
given to the patient is incredible. It is referred to be as one of the most preferred country for

medical tourism. The government of India spends huge degree of money within the health care
sector which helps in providing the best possible services to the medical tourist. Integrating with
the proactive medical approach is very prominent because it helps in effectively recognizing the
potential of the medical tourism across India.
4.BENEFITS OF MEDICAL TOURISM
One of the key advantage associated with the medical tourism is that, individual is able to
pay medical accommodation expenses and medical treatment within the emerging medical
tourism destination at a lesser price (Beladi, Hamid, Chi-Chur Chao, Mong Shan Ee, and Daniel
Hollas. (2015)). Medical tourism is very beneficial because it helps in finding cheaper place for
medical treatment procedures of same quality care. Medical tourism is very useful in providing
high degree of access to the instant set if medical care with zero or short waiting period (Medical
Tourism Benefits and Advantages, 2020). Cost saving is also one of the most prominent factor
which results in medical tourism a lucrative option for the individuals seeking care from those
countries who has expensive medical care. Healthcare facilities offering post operation care
services to the medical tourist is also considered to be one of the most beneficial factor which
eventually results in better care results and outcomes. Another one of the key benefits associated
with the medical tourism is that, it gives patient a chance to appropriately explore new culture
and new destination (Gupta, Manoj Kumar, Veena Rajachar, and Chandra Prabha. (2015)). The
various medical tourism agencies who offers health vacation packages by providing first-class
medical care. There are countries where certain set of medical procedures are not considered to
be legal. Indent major medical Centre with people from across these countries such as America,
Canada and Europe are coming to India in order to get better healthcare services at affordable
price. High degree of health professional available in the market are considered to be as one of
the most crucial which helps in carrying out all the care results and outcomes. Receiving of the
medical care results in health tourism destination.
5.CHALLENGES IN THE SECTOR OF HEALTH TOURISM IN INDIA
Absence of the government initiative is referred to as one of the most challenging concern
which has been faced by the health care sector within India (Rudrappa, and et.al 2019). Increase
in the number of the global competition is considered to be as a challenging factor within the
health tourism in India. Moreover, lack of coordinated support in order to promote health tourism

within India is also one of the most challenging task which eventually leads to major challenge
for the people in India. Lack of uniform pricing standards and policies across the hospital is
considered to be as one of the most challenging factor of health tourism in India (Burns, Lawton
Robert, (2015)). There are various countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Korea who has
established brand in medical tourism. On the other hand, it is very challenging for the India to
create an appropriate brand image within India. Lack of abundant infrastructure facilities
associated with the poor power supply, lack of appropriate coordination system, poor water
supply and lack of connectivity is considered to be as one of the most challenging task associated
with the health tourism in India. Inadequate communication is one of the biggest challenge
which in turn largely influence the health tourism because of the difference in the language and
the culture across various health care sector within India.
Implication of medical tourism in demand and supply of Health care in nation
The medical tourism is the concept which includes the calculation of the people who go
abroad for the treatment of the person (Galizzi, Matteo and Daniel Wiesen, 2018). This is
majorly important because of the fact that there is some treatment which is necessary for the
treatment of the patient. Some of the countries are specialist in the treatment of some of the
diseases and thus, for this treatment they go to such places for getting the disease cured and
operated. Hence, there is high implication of both the demand and supply of the health care in
the whole country or the nation. Thus, the major discussion of the implication of the medical
tourism in India is as follows-
The demand for health care
The demand is referred to as the consumer need for anything or any substance to fulfil the
requirement of the consumers. The demand is the number of things which are being required by
the consumer to satisfy the desire or the want of the consumers. The health care is the sector
which makes sure that the proper treatment is given to the people who are not well or who are
suffering from any of the disease. Thus, it is very necessary for the health care sector of India to
make sure that they know what is the demand of the health care need of the consumers. This is
majorly pertaining to the fact that if the health care sector does not know what the people want
then they will not be able to cater to the needs of the consumers.
Here the demand of this health care treatment is less in India because this is a developing
country and here there is not much availability of the resources and technology which is being

used for the medical treatment of the diseases. This is due to the fact that India is still a
developing state and here it involves much investment to develop the health care sector of India.
Thus, the demand of the medical tourism is less in India because there is not much any special
treatment of any of the disease which is being provided in the India for whom the patient will
come from any other country (Malik, and et.al, 2017). Also, the public spending on the health
care sector in India is very less and because of this also the demand of medical tourism is also
low and due to this fact the demand for the medical tourism is low in India.
On the other side the health care of India includes going to other places for the treatment
of the diseases as in India there is no appropriate medical assistance being provided to the
patients coming to the place. Hence the requirement of the medical trainees and attendant is very
high in India. This is because of the fact that people are developing more interest in the study of
the medical line and courses relating to different types of medical courses. Thus, for this the
demand is increasing that is for the study of medical line the people are getting attracted and this
is increasing the demand of the people.
The supply of health care
The supply of health care means the services relating to the providing of the health care
services to the people of the country. In India the health care system is vast and wide but there is
the only difference on the basis of the quality of the services. This is majorly because of the fact
that some system of health care in India is owned by the public sector or the government and
some by the private sector. Thus the supply of the medical services is good in private sectors but
it is not much developed and advance in the publicly run health care setups. Also, there is a huge
difference in the health care system on the basis of the area that in rural and urban. In the rural
areas the medical services are very less and are not if good quality. But in case of the urban
medical services the health care system are much advanced and modern.
Also, many a times the people from the rural areas come to urban areas for getting the
treatment done. This is because of the fact that the health care setup in urban areas are more
equipped and digitally run with help of latest technologies. But the major drawback of these
advance and urbanized modern health care setup is that these involves a high cost which is not
possible for every person to pay and hence, many a times people are not able to avail the services
of these modern and urbanised health care system in India (Rudrappa, and et.al 2019). Also,
there is an opportunity within the supply of the medical tourism in India because as India is a

modern and developing country so other developed countries like to invest in the country. Thus,
this increases the supply of assistance with help of medical and health care setup.
CONCLUSION
In the end it is concluded that medical tourism is a growing concept and is very essential
for the growth and development of the country. This is majorly because of the reason that if the
country will not be developed on the basis of the latest development relating to the medical
transformation and developments. The present report discussed about the major causes of
medical tourism like quality care, cost. Also, this discussed about the health tourism in India
which is growing and developing in accordance with the changes taking place all over the globe
and in the developed countries.
Further the benefits and challenges being faced by the medical tourism in India was
discussed. These benefits are like cost saving and challenges are like lack of infrastructure, lack
of coordinated support from government and many others. In the end the implication of the
medical tourism that is the demand and supply of the health care in India was developed. It was
seen that the demand of health care in India is developing and the country is also trying to
increase the supply as per the increasing demand.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amiri, Mohammad, and Najmeh Safariolyaei. "Medical tourism in India: Current
scenario." International Journal in Management & Social Science 5, no. 3 (2017): 106-111.
Beladi, Hamid, Chi-Chur Chao, Mong Shan Ee, and Daniel Hollas. "Medical tourism and health
worker migration in developing countries." Economic Modelling 46 (2015): 391-396.
Burns, Lawton Robert. "Medical tourism opportunities and challenges: Illustration from US–
India trade." International journal of healthcare management 8, no. 1 (2015): 15-26.
Galizzi, Matteo M., and Daniel Wiesen. "Behavioral experiments in health economics."
In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance. 2018.
Gupta, Manoj Kumar, Veena Rajachar, and Chandra Prabha. "Medical tourism: a new growth
factor for Indian healthcare industry." International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences 3,
no. 9 (2015): 2161-3.
Malik, Ashish, Brendan Boyle, and Rebecca Mitchell. "Contextual ambidexterity and innovation
in healthcare in India: the role of HRM." Personnel Review (2017).
Moghavvemi, Sedigheh, Meghann Ormond, Ghazali Musa, Che Ruhana Mohamed Isa,
Thinaranjeney Thirumoorthi, Mohd Zulkhairi Bin Mustapha, and Jacob John Chiremel Chandy.
"Connecting with prospective medical tourists online: A cross-sectional analysis of private
hospital websites promoting medical tourism in India, Malaysia and Thailand." Tourism
Management 58 (2017): 154-163.
Rudrappa, Satish, Deepak Venkatesh Agarkhed, and Sushrut S. Vaidya. "Healthcare Systems:
India." In Quality Spine Care, pp. 211-224. Springer, Cham, 2019.
Vitthal, Patil Chetan, Amrutkar Rupesh Subhash, Bhavna R. Sharma, and M. Ramachandran.
"Emerging trends and future prospects of medical tourism in India." Journal of pharmaceutical
sciences and research 7, no. 5 (2015): 248.
Online
Medical Tourism Benefits and Advantages. 2020. [ONLINE]. Available through<
https://www.health-tourism.com/medical-tourism/benefits/ >