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India ranks among the top 10 countries for Medical Tourism as per the latest rankings released by the International Healthcare Research Center (IHRC). IHRC has published the third edition of its flagship survey tool, the 2020-2021 Medical Tourism Index (MTI), ranking the top ten destinations: Canada, Singapore, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, Dubai, Costa Rica, Israel, Abu Dhabi, and India.

The MTI ranks the American perceptions of 46 international healthcare destinations providing insight into how consumers view 41 criteria within three dimensions including Medical Tourism Industry, Destination Attractiveness, and Quality of Care. It becomes the ultimate planning tool for industry stakeholders looking to invest, benchmark, and improve market share in medical travel. The new MTI adds five new destinations to the growing list of medical tourism destinations: Czechia, Portugal, Hungary, Greece, and Guatemala.

The Medical Tourism Index was first created in 2014 and updated for the sector in its 2016-2017 report; this third edition arrives at a critical juncture in the middle of a pandemic, where modern healthcare has never been more important, and the future evolution of a young, globalized industry has never been harder to predict.

About India, the index says that, “In recent years, India has seen a boom in its medical and technological sectors, which in turn has created a burgeoning middle class. With the help of its advancing infrastructure and a more modern economy, India has catapulted itself away from its identity as an underdeveloped nation and into the category of a developing nation, along with Brazil, China, and Argentina”. Well, in the ranking India is positioned well above developed G-8 nations like France, Germany and Italy. Index also mentions all top private hospitals in country as providers and lists all major treatments provided in Indian hospitals.

India in rankings

Early last year India’s ministry of Tourism expected that medical tourism industry could grow by 200% by 2020, hitting $9 billion. India has been trying to make it easier for people to come for medical reasons and for that it was promoting advanced facilities, skilled doctors and low-cost treatment but also traditional practices such as yoga and Ayurveda. In 2015, India ranked as the third most popular destination for medical tourism, when the industry was worth $3 billion. The number of foreign tourists coming into the country on medical visas sat at nearly 234,000 that year. By 2017, the number of arrivals more than doubled to 495,056, government figures show.

“The MTI is a unique survey tool for healthcare destinations looking for the industry equivalent of performance review,” said Renée-Marie Stephano, one of the developers of the Index. “In a relatively young industry like medical travel, there are very few credible resources and planning tools for destinations and facilities that wish to improve their programs. For stakeholders in the medical tourism industry, the MTI can be used to measure the effect that sustainable development has on the MTI criteria scores and then benchmark against other destination.”

India’s hospitality is a big factor in attracting medical tourists

For this 2020-21 edition, MTI provides a fresh snapshot of each destination by providing geopolitical and demographic information, the current healthcare model for each, and insight into the scope and shape of each destination’s medical tourism industry. Also new is the MTI Online Data tools. Such as, a Medical Tourism Calculator, which is a medical tourism planning tool developed by IHRC. It allows professionals, executives, and officials to examine the complete economic impact of the medical tourism industry on a destination city, state or country.

The novel coronavirus is putting tremendous strain on healthcare systems and world economies, which will alter the size and shape of the medical tourism market in unpredictable ways. Even so, it seems outright impossible that any world event – even one as deadly as COVID-19 – could permanently disable or destroy the medical tourism industry.

As the threat of novel coronavirus becomes less ubiquitous and international travel guidelines return to normal, medical tourism, health tourism, and wellness travel industries all aim to slowly return to pre-2020 levels, particularly as health and wellness seekers look for more cost effective, and safe solutions for their healthcare and wellness needs. Destinations that use the updated MTI to prepare for this inevitable return to normal operation will be well-positioned to reap the rewards of foreign healthcare spending.

“If you’re a potential medical tourism destination, there’s no better time to get your house in order,” Stephano said.  In the long run, COVID-19 should even stimulate new stakeholders in the medical tourism industry. Stephano is among those who believes COVID-19 could actually grow the sector more responsibly and more effectively over time with emphasis on the criteria in the MTI.

“As travel restrictions ease and it becomes more safe to travel, but before the economic recession fades away, millions of people are going to be looking for ways to save money and access much needed health and wellness services,” Stephano said.

The International Healthcare Research Center is dedicated to conducting research and delivering reliable information and actionable strategic insight in the following areas:

  • International patient experiences & outcomes
  • Trends & analysis of international patient care
  • Global health insurance
  • Employer-based healthcare trends
  • Population health management
  • Patient demographics
  • Hospital quality
  • Government healthcare policy
  • Corporate wellness
  • Wellness trends
  • Medical tourism research
Chennai is hotspot of medical tourism in India

The primary goal of the International Healthcare Research Center (IHRC) is to promote transparency and improve global healthcare quality, population health management, expanded access to care, and the consumer healthcare experience. IHRC has Global Healthcare Resources as its research partner. Global Healthcare Resources is an international solutions firm providing strategic execution within the industries of employer healthcare, medical tourism, wellness tourism, self-insurance, and corporate wellness.

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