Whats medical tourism

Medical tourism can be broadly defined as provision of ‘cost effective’ private medical care in collaboration with the tourism industry for patients needing Medical or surgical and other forms of specialized treatment.

Another suitable definition for medical tourism is “It can also be defined as  patients going to a different country for either urgent or elective medical procedures”

Nowadays its fast becoming a worldwide, multibillion-dollar industry

 Its usually seen that its facilitated by the corporate sector involved in medical care as well as the tourism industry - both private and public.

In many developing countries it is being actively promoted by the government’s official policy. India’s National Health Policy for example, says: “To capitalize on the comparative cost advantage enjoyed by domestic health facilities in the secondary and tertiary sector, the policy will encourage the supply of services to patients of foreign origin on payment. The rendering of such services on payment in foreign exchange will be treated as ‘deemed exports’ and will be made eligible for all fiscal incentives extended to export earnings”. The formulation draws from recommendations that the corporate sector has been making in India and specifically from the “Policy Framework for Reforms in Health Care”, drafted by the prime minister’s Advisory Council on Trade and Industry, headed by Mukesh Ambani and Kumaramangalam Birla.