Health Care Tourism Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors, both in India and abroad. People are increasingly becoming health conscious and are in lookout for quality healthcare systems that would provide solutions in a holistic way. There has been an increasing number of ageing population, putting additional burden on the already overburdened national healthcare systems in developed countries. Increase in cost of health insurance is adding the number of uninsured population in these countries According to a study by PriceWaterHouse-Coopers, the cost of premium for health insurance during the period 2004-2005, has gone up by 8.8% in USA. Cost increase is being attributed to general inflation, increase in cost of healthcare services (cost of updated technology, broader access plans) and increase in utilization (aging, lifestyle, new treatments). Such a scenario provides opportunities for Indian healthcare sector.Many analysts have predicted that healthcare tourism will be one of the next big opportunities for India. Such predictions are on the grounds that India is one of the countries with highly skilled professionals and with advanced healthcare solutions. It may be mentioned that Indian doctors have been serving in developed countries such as USA, UK and Canada and have gained high reputation. In addition, India’s popularity in the international arena is increasing with the valence of traditional wellness systems, especially Ayurveda and Yoga. It is estimated that a large number of tourists have visited India to practice the wisdom of Indian wellness systems.Multi-language skill, which is one of the prominent interfaces while availing healthcare as also the tourism services abroad, is another advantage for India and J&K . In addition to proficiency in English, Indians are proficient in speaking Hindi, Urdu, Bangla, Arabic, Tamil, which are widely spoken in neighboring countries of West Asia, South and South East Asia. Another reason for India & J&K emerging as a major destination for healthcare is the low cost of treatment prevailing in India. Indian hospitals are cost effective than many developed countries such as USA and Europe. Even when compared to other South-East Asian countries, such as Thailand and Singapore, India scores better, with the cost of procedures cheaper by around 20 percent. There are estimates that by 2008, companies in USA will be spending as much on healthcare as they made profits, forcing the scaling back or withdrawal of benefits. As precaution, some firms have begun considering treatment for their employees in low cost destinations. Thus, low cost healthcare services coupled with internationally acceptable medical practices would position India as an attractive healthcare destination. Estimates show that the average success rate of cardiac surgeries in Indian hospitals compares favorably with developed countries. The success rate of Indian physiotherapists helping patients regain their physical fitness and prevent cardiac problems is at an average of 99.5 percent, at par with leading cardiac centers around the world. Long waiting time in several countries works in favour of growth in healthcare tourism flows towards developing nations. Countries, such as UK and Canada, that provide free healthcare services to their citizens thus become a source for large number of healthcare tourists visiting India. Indian players could leverage quality in services rendered along with low cost healthcare solutions, to attract more number of patients from these countries into India. At industry level, several initiatives are taken to showcase India as a healthcare destination but J and K Govt.needs an eye opener. First and foremost is formation of Indian Healthcare federation to voice the concerns of the industry. Indian healthcare establishments are also working closely with other stakeholders such as hotels, travel agents, tour operators and airlines to offer healthcare tourism as a composite service. While doing so, patient safety is being ensured through collaborative efforts of various stakeholders. Some healthcare service providers have formed strategic alliances with leading healthcare establishments in the world. Efforts are being made to tie-up with national healthcare systems abroad and social / commercial insurance providers. Few of them have also established alliances with academic and research institutions abroad to update on medical technologies and practices. Players are imparting hi-tech equipments and medical infrastructure such as the da Vinci Surgical System for Robotic Cardiac Surgery, 64 slice CT Scan, Linear Accelerators similar to Sloan Kettering, New York44. Strict blood safety and infection control processes are installed.Some healthcare establishments are offering free specialized healthcare camps as also free surgeries under the umbrella of corporate social responsibility. Data generated through such camps are used extensively in their research and development activities.Leading players of the industry are looking at accreditation intensively - be it from national or international accreditation agencies. Initiatives are also being taken to offer healthcare services by way of setting up of healthcare establishments abroad. Some of them have also established their presence abroad through leveraged buy-outs. Interesting feature is that establishment of healthcare institutions abroad is also in the traditional wellness systems, such as Ayurveda and Yoga. Indian healthcare establishments, focussing on international tourists, have started providing associated value added services such as arranging accommodation, facilitating completion of travel documentation, travel arrangements, translation services and escort services. Such initiatives have been projecting India’s prowess in hospitality skills as also a destination for healthcare solutions. Government has also been supportive of the initiatives taken by the healthcare and tourism industry to realize the potential. The center and many state governments are encouraging healthcare tourism firms to participate in international fairs and promotional programmes to showcase the capabilities of India. Many state governments have unveiled specific policy supporting healthcare tourism. State governments, such as Kerala, are leveraging their specialization in Ayurveda and have announced customized policies to attract healthcare tourism. Government of India has announced two separate national policies for development of a) healthcare, and b) tourism. Government of India has formed a Task Force on Medical Tourism with the objective to suggest policy framework to project India as a healthcare destination. The Government has set up National Accreditation Board for Hospitals to provide accreditation to public and private hospitals ensuring quality in healthcare services. The Government has announced a policy framework for issue of Medical Visa to ease the immigration procedures of healthcare and accompanying tourists. Foreign Direct Investment is permitted upto 100 percent for setting up of hospitals as also hotels and tourism projects in India. Promotion of healthcare tourism not only helps in development of the two major sectors, viz., healthcare and tourism, but also associated services sectors. With more and more investment going into setting up of specialty hospitals, it is expected that the medical devices and equipment segment would witness considerable development. Industry estimates suggest that around one-third of capital expenses in setting up of super specialty hospitals go in for procurement of medical devices and equipments. The increase in automation, demand for hi-technology, computer aided apparatus, diagnostic and medical laboratory equipments would help in attracting investment, technology transfer, and FDI in the Indian medical equipment sector. The world healthcare industry, in order to cut down the cost, is outsourcing its research and administrative expenses. In addition, the volume pressure would mandate several health maintenance organizations to outsource portion of their work to low cost destinations. Information technology is becoming a major enabling sector for healthcare delivery all over the world. At present, healthcare organizations are estimated to be outsourcing around 10% their IT requirements. However, in the near future, the share of IT outsourcing is expected to increase providing opportunities for Indian IT capabilities. India has been traditionally attracting outsourcing business in medical insurance claim processing and digitizing the patient health records (medical transcription). This is being further strengthened with outsourcing of high-end services such as clinical data analysis, biometric services and chemical engineering. India’s strengths in IT and IT enabled services could be leveraged to support such knowledge processing activities. Leveraging information technology, a specialist or a super specialist in a hospital could give advice to the patients or even monitor the patient’s health conditions. Similarly, medical students can observe conduction of operations in another location leveraging information technology. The concept of telemedicine would become more and more popular with an increasing outsourcing of healthcare services. In addition, the biggest beneficiary of the concept of telemedicine would be the rural population, who has limited access to medical facilities. Another area of opportunity is health insurance business as also outsourcing of health insurance. Although the penetration of healthcare insurance is only 10% in India, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority views the health insurance is one of the fastest growing portfolios of general insurance business. In addition to increase in volume of health insurance business (for coverage of domestic population), healthcare tourism would bring opportunities with another new term / concept of medical insurance outsourcing. This could happen if national healthcare systems in developed countries outsource the healthcare services to India. commercial health insurance in India is estimated at around 1 percent only. Major reasons for low penetration of commercial health insurance include low level of innovation in health insurance products, exclusions and administrative procedures governing the policies, and chances of co-variate risks, such as epidemics, which keep the premium high. Need for greater insurance coverage may be viewed in the context of its potential to create demand for services, while ng the risks through a pooling mechanism. The insurance coverage may ease out the financial difficulties of patients and help the healthcare service providers with faster return on investment (with increase in demand for services) through lower payback period. Another challenge is that the foreign insurance companies are not willing to extend their coverage for treatments in low cost countries, such as India, as they have concerns about the quality of health services offered. The insurers are of the opinion that insurance coverage for treatments in low-cost countries could prove expensive if the treatment worsens the health conditions and the insurer is obliged to cover the costs of subsequent treatment, at home country. The insurers are also concerned with absence of malpractice law in a foreign jurisdiction in which case the patient will have no recourse to his / her healthcare expenses. greater level of technological leverage, and the foreign patients are accustomed to a number of comforts leveraging the technology,Indian hospitals need to address the issue of upgrading the technology, so that the visiting patients feel at ease. Low cost solutions are the prime driver of flow of healthcare tourists towards developing countries, such as India. Hence, it is important for Indian players to remain cost competitive, vis-à-vis other developing countries, while improving the quality of healthcare services, leveraging technology. Tie-ups with different players of healthcare or tourism segments would help in offering cost effective facilities. In addition, outsourcing of medical logistics in major areas like housekeeping, food and beverages, diagnostics, supply of encourage transplantations, or the model adopted by China in popularizing the Chinese medicines, or the model adopted by Malaysia to combine the healthcare with tourist destinations, or the combination of all the above, could position India as an ideal healthcare destination. Convergence of traditional healthcare solutions with modern medicine would also encourage international travelers to visit India for their wellness requirements. Looking towards our J and K state,we have all these facilities including beautiful climate,open air,remote destinations, hill resorts , internationally recognized destinations which already attract lot of tourists, but effective policy implementation and close coordinated efforts with health care Department and tourism Department can make our state an effective hub of health care tourism, and can boost its economy manifoldly.But are we aware of developments,oppourtinuties and challenges to catch the superhighway of global development. Dr. Manzoor Ahmed yetoo (The author is an expert in environment ,project & waste Management, occupational safety& health & pollution control). (You may reach him at [email protected])
Posted on: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:41:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015