Maharashtra medically yours : a global player in medical tourism

Travelling for the purpose of improving health, wellbeing, diagnostic tests, medical treatment and complex surgery along with having a holiday is not new. People have been travelling from ancient times for spiritual healing to religious places such as temples and churches known for spiritual healing powers. Patients from rural remote villages within a country such as India also travel to urban cites for diagnostic treatment and surgeries called as domestic medical tourism. Travel for complex diagnostic clinical tests, non-surgical and surgical procedures is a global phenomenon and this industry has grown at the rate of 30-40 percent in 2010 (AMTA, 2012). India was ranked second to Thailand in medical tourism (IMT, 2009). In 2007, 450,000 thousand patients from foreign countries were treated in India, compared to Thailand’s 1200,000 and this number is growing (RNCOS, 2010). Ministry of Tourism Government of India since 2003 has promoted India to developed countries as a “Global Health Destination”, providing value for money, in terms of first world high-tech medical treatment and facilities which are internationally accredited at an affordable third world prices (Turner, 2007). Few of the leading destinations in India with super-speciality treatments and established reputation in medical tourism are Chennai, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Bangalore, Delhi and Kerala. Further, at the state level Medical Tourism Council of Maharashtra has also collaborated with corporate private healthcare providers to attract medical tourists by their promotional slogan of: “Maharashtra Medically Yours”. This paper explores and critically analyses the emergence of India in the global medical tourism industry with reference to measures taken by the Government of Maharashtra in particular to develop, promote and support the growth of medical tourism industry in various cities of the state such as Mumbai and Pune and be a leading destination in India and the globe for medical tourism.