Despite its super-specialty hospitals and world class health infrastructure, Bangalore is far behind Chennai in attracting international patients.
While Chennai sees a minimum of 200 international patients every day, Bangalore has an estimated 10-15.
According to a study on medical tourism in India by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and McKinsey, medical tourism market in India is valued to be worth over $310 million with 1,00,000 foreign patients coming in every year.
Of this, Chennai attracted 40 per cent of the patients. The report says the medical value travel or medical tourism is the key driver for Indian health care sector.
“World class treatment at almost 1/10th of the cost with no waiting time for surgeries as compared with advanced nations like the UK and the USA have been instrumental in a large number of foreign arrivals to access health care services in India,” the report said.
“Flight connectivity to Chennai from United States, Middle East and other countries is much better than Bangalore. This is one of the major reasons why Bangalore’s medical tourism industry is still only picking up,” said N Prabhu Dev, chairman, Karnataka State Health Commission.
“In 2012, Bangalore hospitals had around 1,000 international patients.”
In 2012-13, Manipal Group of Hospitals treated 800 in-patients and 4,100 out patients in the departments of oncology, nephro-urology and cardiology.
“We had patients who came in for spinal surgeries, orthopaedic intervention and In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). They were primarily from Africa (central and east), Middle East, including Iraq and Iran, Mauritius, Maldives, Australia and Sri Lanka,” said Dr Sudarshan Ballal, medical director, Manipal Hospitals.
Around 15 patients were treated at Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research in 2012.
“This year we have treated seven international patients,” said Dr C N Manjunath, director of the hospital.
He said the trend of medical tourism in Chennai started much earlier than Bangalore. “Several hospitals in Chennai have signed MoUs with the governments of African countries Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya. So, they automatically send their citizens there for treatment. Most hospitals in Bangalore do not have such tie-ups,” he said.
Explaining why the industry is only yet to pick up in the city, Dr Dev said better facilities must be provided in city hospitals to house caregivers, who accompany international patients.
“Most patients who come for medical intervention have a prolonged recovery period. In such a situation, the hospital authorities must also take care of the comfort of attenders and the kith and kin who accompany medical tourists,” he said.
Dr Abhijit Barve, president (R&D), Biocon Research Centre, said the segment is yet to be looked at, and developed.
“Medical tourism focuses only on chronic and life threatening conditions. This gives us a segment of people who seek specific treatment and intervention. The market has to be explored further,” he said.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Sharadha Kalyanam – Bangalore / May 19th, 2013
