A Study of the Medical Tourism and Policy Implications for Health Systems

The global healthcare industry currently stands at $20 billion and is expected to go beyond $60 billion by the end of 2019. Better and cheaper medical treatments in developing countries, emerging developments in the medical sector, affordable air travel, the availability of information about medical destinations and the advancement of information technology are the growth factors caused by this new trend. In the last few years, India has seen tremendous growth in the health care sector. In monetary terms, analysts estimate that as of 2012, medical tourism could carry India up to US$2.2 billion annually. Medical tourism has a project estimate of 18,505.7 million in 2019. Since 2019, the arrival of medical tourists has increased by 25 percent year on year in India. As medical tourism is the fastest growing sector in the 21st century, and also because many countries are interested in taking advantage of its economic potential, by combining high-quality medical services at affordable rates with tourist packages, countries are capitalising on their popularity as tourist destinations. Here comes India, which is considered to be one of the world's iconic medical tourism destinations offering Third World Price First World Health Care. It delivers world-class healthcare that costs considerably less than in most other developed countries, using competent professionals of the same and often even improved technologies, resulting in comparable success rates. India has a tremendous potential to make full use of and benefit from this medical tourism industry while considering affordability and convenience. Many hospitals in India are currently getting ready to draw foreign patients and are trying their best to spread their names by offering medical services of world standard.