Introduction to Medical Tourism

‘Medical Tourism’ is a combination of two leading service industries – the Healthcare and the Tourism industry. It is a concept where two leading industries in any country, the healthcare and the tourism industry join hands to provide healthcare services to people beyond the boundary limits of their home country.

‘Medical Tourism’ has become one of the fastest growing industries over the years, where people travel for getting medical or health-related treatments and combine it with a much-needed break to enjoy the culture, diversity, and food of a different country. ‘Medical Tourism’ provides people with accessibility, state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure, and quality, all at affordable prices.

As per the Medical Tourism Market Report - 2015, India is the foremost destination as it provides the highest quality treatment at lowest cost. The concept of medical tourism started way back thousands of years ago. It is a social practice that started in the healthcare field in the ancient times. Researchers have found that several sites found in India, Persia, Egypt, and Greece had several travellers across them solely for the purposes of getting medical treatment.

Over time, in a place, certain areas grew in fame with respect to their success in treating certain ailments. This fame may have been due to a specialist who was good at treating people, due to the presence of certain elements, such as minerals or mineral springs that may cure illnesses, or due to the ancient knowledge of a certain culture, such as Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathy etc. ‘Medical Tourism’ offers highly-competitive healthcare packages at prices, which are much lower than those in the western countries.

It helps patients avail healthcare services using state-of-the-art infrastructure and technology, which may not be available or may be too expensive in their country. Patients can enjoy a combination of healthcare, as well as tourism, as these two industries together join hands to offer packages tailored together. Apart from the lost cost healthcare offerings, medical tourism also helps the patients avail high-quality healthcare services.

Medical tourists are not restricted to just availing ‘needed’ healthcare services but due to the attractive offerings, they can now avail even ‘wanted’ healthcare services, including cosmetic ones and elective surgeries, which they may not be able to afford in their countries. Patients can now afford to undertake treatment of critical illnesses for prolonged periods also due to the affordability and reduced waiting time for such services.

‘Medical Tourism’ enables medical tourists to enjoy the culture, food, people, and diversity packaged with tourist attractions in a foreign country and at the same time avail healthcare services. People can now enjoy and avail wellness treatments and rejuvenation therapies, involving holistic improvement involving of the mind, body, and soul offered by some countries due to their rich ancient knowledge of such treatments, such as Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Unani, Homeopathy etc.