According to the HR Magazine, published by the Society for Human Resource Management, medical tourism could become an option in employer sponsored health plans. The article can only be accessed through subscription but the NY Times reports, that clearly the price of medical tourism appeals to employers who are faced with rising health care costs and operating costs.
According to examples cited in the article “Going the Distance for Health Savings,” the cost of sending a worker overseas for procedures like removing a gallbladder can be at least 50 percent less than that of having the work done in the United States, even if the employer pays for the worker to spend recovery time in a fine hotel.
Questions on quality of healthcare persist but to encourage employees to seek treatment abroad, companies are also willing to give them a percentage of what the savings.
Posted in Asia, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Cost of treatment, Insurance, Singapore, USA, Medical Tourism March 26th, 2007 by gaurav | 2 comments
The rise in medical tourism and the worldwide resurgence of spirituality and traditional healing has seen Ayurveda capture a significant piece of the medical tourism pie in India, CNN reports.
Ayurveda sessions, from a basic head massage to an intense detox scrub and wrap, that can last from 45 minutes to five-and-a-half hours and are priced at 950 rupees ($21) to 10,000 rupees.
Ayurveda products containing a combination of hearbs, spices, flowers and fruits such as saffron, basil and green apple generate a big chunk of the estimated $200 to $300 million alternative therapy market in India’s growing beauty industry.
As the West laps up Eastern philosophies and treatments, firms such as L’Oreal have also shown an interest in incorporating ayurvedic items in the product line.
Posted in India, Europe, Financial Forecasts, Cost of treatment, USA, Medical Tourism March 19th, 2007 by gaurav | 1 comment
Indian government authorities have extended the duration of the medical visa or M-VISA from 6 months to 3 years, if the patient’s doctor so wishes. On an MX-VISA, patients will be allowed to bring along a companion.
The Ministry of External Affairs has also directed Indian embassies in 18 countries to expedite paperwork for medical visas and for them to be cleared within 48 hours.
Indian embassies are known to be notoriously slow in processing visas causing much frustration among travelers.
Posted in India, Medical Tourism March 16th, 2007 by gaurav | No comments
Found a blog which posts first hand accounts of low cost surgery in India. Worth a visit.
Lap Band surgery is used to treat obesity. More on this here.
Posted in India, Medical Tourism March 16th, 2007 by gaurav | No comments
After yesterday’s post on the prospects of an “international trade of doctors” driving down medicare prices in the US, comes an article on what would a visa-free world mean for the outsourcing industry in India and the client country. Good read.
Harvard economist Greg Mankiw writes in his blog that a free flow of skilled people from countries like India to the US could impact income inequality in the two countries as well. Inequality in the US would reduce as the wages of the skilled fall in relation to the wages of the unskilled. “… from a US perspective, the economic pie grows larger, and the slices are divided more equally. More efficiency and more equality—a rare twofer,” says Mankiw.
And the very opposite will take place in India: Inequality will rise as the wages of the skilled rise faster than the wages of the unskilled. “Allowing more skilled workers into the US might exacerbate global inequality, even if it enhances global efficiency,” says Mankiw.
The article also carries a bit on medical tourism.
The UK has recently changed its immigration rules for skilled workers to encourage EU citizens to move there. Desi doctors in the UK have gone to court, and up to 25,000 Indian doctors who are currently in the UK could be forced to come back to India in case their lobby loses the case.
The return of these doctors could push down the earnings of doctors here. Indian medical services could get even cheaper, which is a further incentive for patients from rich countries to fly down to have their bodies repaired.
Posted in India, USA, Medical Tourism March 14th, 2007 by gaurav | No comments
As an ever growing number of foreign tourists flock to India for leisure, business or medicare, the country is grappling with the problem of a lack of star-category hotel rooms.
According to the Ministry of Tourism of the Government of India, the country has around 1.2 million hotel rooms of which only seven per cent, or about 80,000, are star category. In comparison, China has 10 times as many and the US 40 times as many hotel rooms.
The number of foreigners coming to India to avail quality, inexpensive treatment is rising. Revenue from medical tourism is expected to rise from $333 million at present to $2 billion by 2012.
Posted in India, Financial Forecasts, Medical Tourism March 11th, 2007 by gaurav | 1 comment
With the number of foreign patients coming to India growing steadily, medical tourism is expected to contribute about 15% of corporate hospitals total earnings by 2009. Read here.
According to a CII study, more than 1.5 lakh foreign patients visited India for medical proce dures last year and the number is growing by 15% a year. The global world health travellers market is $40 billion and growing at over 15% year-on year.
At present, India’s medical tourism industry to be around $450 million, a report by FICCI and Ernst & Young said. A recent McKinsey study estimates In dia’s medical tourism industry could yield as much as $2.2 bil lion a year by 2012. Currently India’s total healthcare industry is about $17 billion and is grow ing at about 13% annually.
Posted in India, Financial Forecasts, Traffic Forecasts, Medical Tourism March 4th, 2007 by gaurav | No comments
According to the World Economic Forum’s recently released rankings on the travel and tourism industry of 124 nations, India has the most competitive travel and tourism industry among developing countries. Read here and here.
While evaluating the countries, the rankings considered transportation infrastructure, health and safety, pricing, the environment and culture and the countries’ regulatory frameworks among 52 variables.
India’s ranking was built on its competitive pricing, with low ticket taxes and airport charges as well as low prices in the economy, although the country
fares poorly in the marketing and branding aspects. Hello??! Is anyone listening!
The US ranked 99 out of 124 countries for price competiveness and the perception of US citizens towards foreign visitors ranked low at 112th place. In overall rankings, Singapore is at 8, Thailand at 43 and India at 65.
Food for thought.
Posted in Asia, India, Thailand, Singapore, USA, Medical Tourism March 2nd, 2007 by gaurav | 1 comment
India’s luxury ayurveda spas are a big draw for Western tourists. But the lure of the easy tourist $ has brought in hundreds of quack practitioners threatening the established players and the goodwill of the industry.
The southern Indian state of Kerela is the home of ayurveda and untrained newcomers have mushroomed in the last few years. Giant billboards advertise miracle cures through ayurveda for as little as $50.
Kerala has been aggressively marketing ayurveda abroad over the past decade with roadshows in Europe and the Middle East, in its bid to position itself as a unique destination.
Almost 350 000 foreigners visited Kerala in 2005, where tourism is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, at 11 percent a year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. That raked in $1.7-billion of revenue.
Some 7000 private and 500 government clinics and hospitals provide the treatments today, as well as 59 accredited ayurvedic spa resorts, said Kerala’s Association of Ayurvedic Hospitals. But established resort owners say the accreditation procedures are not a guarantee of proper treatment.
My personal view is that there is some truth in this but it also represents the insecurities of the established operators towards increased competition and decreasing earnings.
Posted in India, Europe, Financial Forecasts, Traffic Forecasts, Cost of treatment, USA, Medical Tourism February 20th, 2007 by gaurav | No comments