MEDICAL TOURISM – A GROWING AND POTENTIAL SEGMENT IN INDIAN SCENARIO

The global growth of patients as well as technology along with medical professional, investments have led to the steady augmentation of a complete new system of healthcare services. It was a usual practice that people used to travel across for recovery of their health. But crossing the borders of one's own country for health care was not a common practice. Thanks to the communication technology. People can now think of going to an alien destination for recouping health. Thus patients in pursuit of medical treatment, better care, started wanting more services which would heal their body and soul. People wanted a complete wellness programme for their health which gained a lot of momentum. With this emerged the concept of medical tourism which has grown into leaps and bounds in India and is swaying across the country making significant contribution to Indian economy. Medical tourism business holds a large potential across the globe and India has always been a preferred place for medical tourists not only because of its cost advantages but also because of state of the art treatment facilities. Medical tourism is an idea with which greatly lucrative potential is attached. According to Government of India, health care industry in India would grow 13 per cent per year which is and which can be boosted further by medical tourism which itself is growing 30 per cent annually. Realizing this, major corporate houses like Tata, Fortis, Wockhardt, and Piramal are entering into this venture with significant investments. Many are also organizing specially designed packages for patients including boarding, lodging and even visa assistance. The paper attempts to delve into the prospects, predicaments of medical tourism in India and how different medical tourism agencies as well as corporate are finding it flourishing and modest