Indian Medical Tourism to Have a Good Year Ahead
Being a country with history of ancient treatment methods such as Ayurveda and a contemporary scenario with the best health practitioners in the world, India’s medical tourism is a field to soon have a big boom. And this is the very reason for students pursuing a degree in International Recreation and Tourism with “Semester at Sea”, a travel and study programme of Colorado State University, to dock the port of Cochin for the third time in a row.
“Semester at Sea” is intended for the students to acquire knowledge on various subjects put in contexts of entirely different parts of the world and their contemporary situation. The team of 24 visited CIMAR Fertility Centre with their Professor Soo Kang for an interactive session on “Medical Tourism in India” with Dr. Parasuram Gopinath.
“Medical journeys are becoming a choice made more often and medical tourism has more than enough reasons to flourish across the world.” said Dr. Parasuram Gopinath. When your treatment is combined with a trip to a place worth visiting, it is a travelling opportunity as well and you might not face long waiting lists. It is spending your money on something more than just travelling and it is less expensive than a mere luxurious sightseeing trip.
Indian medical tourism will be an industry worth 32.5 billion USD by 2019 and the expertise of Indian health practitioners plays an important role in this growth. India can provide latest technologies and facilities with world class qualities at a comparatively low cost than European countries. A lot of people from Middle Eastern countries and Australia visit India for IVF treatments and high risk pregnancies.
Many of the Indian hospitals are up to date with latest developments of medical science. “CIMAR Fertility Centre performs up to 1000 IVF cycles every year and the neonatology unit is known to be one of the best in India.” said Dr. Parasuram Gopinath. There are only limited hospitals with maternal and foetal medicine unit across the world considering that it is a relatively new branch of medical science. “CIMAR’s maternal and foetal medicine unit has already been able to provide the best health care to many of the patients.” he added.
India’s rich heritage and cultural background is also significant for the growing health tourism industry. Ancient healing methods such as Ayurveda also attract a lot of people to India. Many of the clinics and wellness centres are well equipped to provide personalised experience and care of skilled practitioners along with some enjoyable leisure time. World class services and satisfactory customer care are the two tricks for the success of medical tourism.
Students of “Semester at Sea” were given a tour of CIMAR Fertility Centre for their better understanding of the technologies and facilities provided. Prof. Soo Kang and her students were impressed with the enriching experience and exposure to Indian medical tourism that they received. The team will be continuing their journey to more Asian countries soon.
