India is surging ahead in the race for medical tourism leaving behind countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore which were earlier
considered preferred destinations of foreign patients.
India holds a strong appeal for Americans as the exploding costs of medical treatment in the US are forcing them to venture to exotic places to get heart surgery, cancer therapy, and dentistry.
Many Indian hospitals have been quietly negotiating with US companies to send their employees to India for medical treatment at "rock-bottom rates", as one brochure of a Bangalore-based hospital in circulation in the New York/New Jersey region professes.
India companies are acquiring firms in Singapore and Thailand which enables them to take advantage of a large trans-Asia presence that results in boosting business, besides strengthening infrastructure and treatment possibilities for foreign patients.
Many foreign patients who arrive in India have already acquired some exposure to and confidence in Indian medical experts and nurses who maintain a ubiquitous presence in hospitals in the USA, Canada, UK or even Australia.
Studies have forecasted that India's medical tourism market will be worth some USD 2 billion a year by 2012 compelling the Indian Government to introduce a new category of medical visas for foreigners to facilitate their stay in India.
The visa issued to the patient and an accompanying caretaker, could be extended up to three years.
Indian hospitals in Mumbai and Bangalore - and also in other cities - report of a steady rise in the number of patients from the United States.
"Even with airfare, the cost of going to India for surgery can be markedly cheaper, and the quality of services is often better than that found in the United States and UK.
Indeed, many patients are pleased at the prospect of combining their tummy tucks with a trip to the Taj Mahal," YaleGlobal, a flagship publication of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalisation contended.
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