Thursday, August 24, 2006
Healthcare Tourism
Healthcare or Tourism ?
The Indian Media has been writing about opportunities in Medical Tourism for a while. But in the last few months, I see that even the US media has been talking about India being a good destination for medical treatment. I came across articles in Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The Los Angeles Times.
A few days back, I met a friend of mine who is the Managing Director of one of India's leading Third Party Administrators, and he tells me that he is able to see a lot of interest (among insurers especially in the Middle East) to send patients to India. No doubt, people all over the world are realizing that India has the infrastructure and expertise to deliver World Class Healthcare, and I am reasonably sure that we will exceed the revenue projections made by Mckinsey in their 2002 Report.
But one thing bothers me. Is Healthcare Tourism about Healthcare, or is it about Tourism ? Sure, India is a fine Tourist destination, and it has World Class Healthcare Facilities, but how do these come together? Who is better placed to build this business, the hospitals, or the tour operators, or how should they collaborate? Is there a role that the government must play?
Since this is a Blog about Healthcare Entrepreneurs, the question uppermost in my mind is, Will the Healthcare Tourism opportunity attract entrepreneurs who will be able to build businesses with attractive valuations, pretty much the way the IT Entrepreneurs did? I tried googling for "India Healthcare Tourism", and the first few results all took me to websites of agencies that seemed to be in the travel business, but were quite unwilling to reveal too much background information.
In the stories in the US media, I came across companies like MedRetreat, IndUSHealth and PlanetHospital-US Companies (at least one set up by a Person of Indian Origin) that seem to have tied up with some of the leading Indian Hospital groups, that seem confident that these companies will channelize patients from the US to their hospitals in various parts of India.
The Indian Media has been writing about opportunities in Medical Tourism for a while. But in the last few months, I see that even the US media has been talking about India being a good destination for medical treatment. I came across articles in Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The Los Angeles Times.
A few days back, I met a friend of mine who is the Managing Director of one of India's leading Third Party Administrators, and he tells me that he is able to see a lot of interest (among insurers especially in the Middle East) to send patients to India. No doubt, people all over the world are realizing that India has the infrastructure and expertise to deliver World Class Healthcare, and I am reasonably sure that we will exceed the revenue projections made by Mckinsey in their 2002 Report.
But one thing bothers me. Is Healthcare Tourism about Healthcare, or is it about Tourism ? Sure, India is a fine Tourist destination, and it has World Class Healthcare Facilities, but how do these come together? Who is better placed to build this business, the hospitals, or the tour operators, or how should they collaborate? Is there a role that the government must play?
Since this is a Blog about Healthcare Entrepreneurs, the question uppermost in my mind is, Will the Healthcare Tourism opportunity attract entrepreneurs who will be able to build businesses with attractive valuations, pretty much the way the IT Entrepreneurs did? I tried googling for "India Healthcare Tourism", and the first few results all took me to websites of agencies that seemed to be in the travel business, but were quite unwilling to reveal too much background information.
In the stories in the US media, I came across companies like MedRetreat, IndUSHealth and PlanetHospital-US Companies (at least one set up by a Person of Indian Origin) that seem to have tied up with some of the leading Indian Hospital groups, that seem confident that these companies will channelize patients from the US to their hospitals in various parts of India.
# posted by Srivathsan @ 9:00 AM 
