Medical tourism in India : is it a pro-poor development?

The objective of India’s 12th Five year plan (2012-2017) is to have ‘faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth’ in terms of access to education, health, sanitation and clean drinking water. Wellness and Medical Tourism development should be sustainable and pro-poor, making it affordable and accessible to local poor population. On one hand in-bound medical tourism is where foreign patients travel to India for seeking affordable, JCI quality of medical care with no waiting period. However, on the other hand, local poor and lower middle class population do not have equitable access to affordable quality of healthcare. The key aim of this paper is to critically explore and examine if the Indian government initiatives since the 9th to the 12th five year plans, to support the development and growth of medical tourism is pro-poor and propose some pro-poor medical tourism financing options. The introductory section of the paper provides a background to medical tourism in India. Section two puts forward a brief literature review on medical tourism. Section three highlights and critically examines if the government policy initiatives to support the development and growth of medical tourism industry in India is pro-poor during the four planning phases. Section five provides policy implications and recommendation for pro-poor development of medical tourism in India. Final section concludes with future research direction.