Medical Tourism or Health Tourism has been gaining precedence across the world, and an increasing emphasis on individual wellbeing, high-quality affordable medical services, and easier cross-border travel, has led India to become a popular hub for overseas patients.
It is no revelation that over the past few decades, India’s medical sector has grown by leaps and bounds due to its highly skilled medical specialists and staff, advanced medical infrastructure and facilities powered by emerging technology, and low-cost treatment options.
Both public and private healthcare players, supported by the government and favourable National Health policies, have led the country to realize its potential to grow as the hub of medical tourism. India's efforts to supply vaccines to many countries across the world in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, has also furthered our vision of becoming ‘One Nation, One Health System’.
While global medical tourism, valued at USD 4.0 billion in 2021, is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.51% by 2030, India is making relentless efforts to ramp up its healthcare infrastructure and medical services to meet the growing demands of the changing world.
What makes India a preferred destination for Medical Tourists
With relaxed visa norms and a huge influx of patients from countries like Bangladesh, Kenya, Iraq, Oman, Tanzania, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Maldives etc, the country has witnessed over 40% growth in Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs). The number of tourists visiting on medical visas has increased from 495,056 in 2017 to almost 697,000 in 2019. The reasons for the growing popularity of India as a medical hub are manifold. Unlike most developed countries like the U.S which have extremely high treatment costs, quality healthcare services in India can be obtained at a cheaper rate. Since many patients cannot afford to pay for medical insurance in their own countries, travelling to India to obtain medical services allows them to avail world class medical services at almost 50% less rates. This helps patients with chronic medical conditions who have to wait for longer durations to avail medical services in their native countries, gain access to prompt treatment at reasonable costs.
The availability of world-class amenities and renowned doctors who are pioneers in their fields has also been a major enabling factor in India’s growing popularity as a preferred destination for overseas patients. Lakhs of patients visit India every year to avail medical treatment, especially in the departments of cardiology, neurology, and orthopaedics. Treatments for cardiovascular diseases, eye surgery, hip replacement, kidney ailments etc are among the most commonly sought after treatments by foreign patients.
Given that almost 70% of today's medical decisions are based on laboratory results, the availability of CAP and NABL accredited diagnostic labs equipped with state-of-the-art technology to generate rapid results, has also enabled these patients to opt for specialised surgical treatments and other forms of medical care in the country. These factors also play a crucial role in minimising unnecessary expenditures for medical tourists, by reducing the overall duration of their stay.
How Genomics can be the game changer in India’s Medical Tourism expansion strategy
As India strives to become the leader in global healthcare delivery, it can only be made possible when we expand the use of technological advancements and next generation sequencing techniques like Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to provide correct treatment options for patients. The success of the Human Genome Project, a 13 year long project aimed at determining the DNA sequence of the entire human genome, has enabled scientists and researchers to identify advanced techniques and tools to deliver new age precision diagnostics.
It is integral to remember that while the country gains popularity as the preferred destination for medical tourists, our priorities should first be targeted at meeting the clinical needs and demands of our own population of over 1.38 billion. The use of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) can help improve not just curative healthcare delivery for overseas patients, but also help adopt preventive health care practices for the masses.
The use of Whole Genome Sequencing can be especially effective for treatments in oncology, pharmacology, genetic disorders, infectious and rare diseases. Given that the multiple test paradigm is experimental and ineffective with almost 68% patients going undiagnosed, patients no longer need to depend on time consuming tests to access accurate results for a range of medical conditions. With the availability of the Universal Infectious Diseases test in India that deploys Next Generation Sequencing technology, anyone suffering from a fever or infection of unknown origin can gain access to a single test that gathers genomic data to identify existing and emerging infections.
By estimating health parameters such as lifetime risk of a disease, responses to drug and adverse reactions, genomic tests can prove to be effective screening tools for such patients and help the medical staff identify and manage existing conditions and symptoms by designing strategies that can reduce disease risk and delays.
With costs that are almost 60-80% lower than their own countries, both medical tourists and native patients can benefit immensely from such cost effective and prompt medical treatment options, which were hitherto unavailable. As we expand the use of Whole Genome Sequencing in India, we can not only allow for greater detection of health problems for the masses, but also generate genomic information that can aid the translation of applications to design targeted therapeutic strategies for medical tourists.
Genomics can pave the way for new age precision medicine, as India caters to the needs of overseas patients, by providing them high quality, timely and accurate treatment, while reducing their exposure to avoidable drug toxicity.