The Medical tourism sector in India is showing a mild recovery amid the Coronavirus pandemic. The lockdown of seven long months in the country and flights being cancelled has hit tourism hard. However, with India gradually opening up its international flights through air bubbles agreement with select countries, private hospitals in the country have resumed admitting emergency cases from abroad.
According to information provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, India witnessed a shrink of 6.97 lakh foreign patients on a medical visa in 2019. This accounts for 6.9 per cent of total foreign tourist arrivals in the country every year. In 2015, the number of Foreign Tourist arrivals for medical purposes in India were 2,33,918, in 2016, the figures went up to 4,27,014 and the total numbers were 4,95,056 in 2017.
In September, healthcare giant Apollo Hospitals Enterprises said the government should help and support the medical tourism sector in the country to get back on its feet as it has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Apollo Hospitals Group Joint MD Sangita Reddy said, “The medical tourism sector came to a standstill due to the lockdown. This has impacted not just India but Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries also which have a thriving medical tourism sector.”
Though the details of foreign tourist arrivals in India in the year 2020 have not been disclosed, it can be measured that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the numbers in all likelihood. However, patients from outside India have slowly started to visit the country for medical treatment and emergency purposes, as per the report.
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India over the years has developed in providing better medical facilities and affordable in terms of expenditure in comparison to many other nations. The Central government has from time to time stressed the improvement of medical tourism and its importance for the country.
Realizing the potential to develop and promote Wellness and Medical Tourism as an ecological in the country and supplying necessary factors, the Ministry of Tourism has formulated guidelines for the promotion of Medical Tourism. As per the guidelines following assistance is provided to eligible stakeholders, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel had informed Rajya Sabha.