Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Healthcare Tourism
Media Favorite
We know that the Indian media likes to write about our being the preferred destination for Healthcare Tourists from across the world. And to retain the interest of the reader, the journalist has to keep varying the flavor of the story. Since the basic Indian value proposition seems to be Low Costs for even the most complicated medical treatments, no scribe can refrain from talking about this. But to give the story that little angle, we have someone writing about employer sponsored tourists. Or about Indian Hospitals tying up with Medical Tourism Companies for patient flows.
But what beats me why the Indian Media is devoting so much of its energies to Healthcare Tourism. What beats me even more is why is it wasting so much space to talk about Low Costs? Sure, PR agencies representing Healthcare Tourism companies are getting their customers good deals (it is a no-brainer that a 60 cc news story will score over a similar sized ad), but what is the desired outcome? The media plays a very important role in building a business, but then it is important to realize that there are always two sides to building any business. At the risk of oversimplifying, I call these the demand side, and the supply side.
It is reasonable to assume that the demand side consists of the countries from which we hope to attract patients. And thankfully, the media in some of those countries has been writing about how one can expect to receive world class medical treatment in India. Strangely, while there is mention of lower costs, they don’t seem to be going overboard (like the Indian Media is) about how much lower (maybe they have realized that while World Class can cost less, it may be a bit difficult to imagine world class co-exist with cheap. And why, one might ask, should world class be sold at such low prices anyway?)
The supply side consists of all the Indian Hospitals that hope to attract the Healthcare Tourist. And it is here that the media can actually play a catalytic role. By writing about what it is that the tourist looks for when choosing a city/hospital in which to receive treatment, the kind of post-hospital support he expects, whether this can be delivered remotely (after all India provides help desk support to the developed world across industries), media can encourage meaningful dialogue about what needs to be done to ensure that the tourist who does land up here receives medical treatment that he will gladly recommend to his friends/relatives back home.
To a country that has rarely believed in quality processes even to attract the domestic patients, depending instead on the celebrity power of a few physicians to keep the beds occupied, accreditation by a national/international agency to ensure quality does not come easy, and it will take them some time to understand the importance of these. And media can surely help here.
We know that the Indian media likes to write about our being the preferred destination for Healthcare Tourists from across the world. And to retain the interest of the reader, the journalist has to keep varying the flavor of the story. Since the basic Indian value proposition seems to be Low Costs for even the most complicated medical treatments, no scribe can refrain from talking about this. But to give the story that little angle, we have someone writing about employer sponsored tourists. Or about Indian Hospitals tying up with Medical Tourism Companies for patient flows.
But what beats me why the Indian Media is devoting so much of its energies to Healthcare Tourism. What beats me even more is why is it wasting so much space to talk about Low Costs? Sure, PR agencies representing Healthcare Tourism companies are getting their customers good deals (it is a no-brainer that a 60 cc news story will score over a similar sized ad), but what is the desired outcome? The media plays a very important role in building a business, but then it is important to realize that there are always two sides to building any business. At the risk of oversimplifying, I call these the demand side, and the supply side.
It is reasonable to assume that the demand side consists of the countries from which we hope to attract patients. And thankfully, the media in some of those countries has been writing about how one can expect to receive world class medical treatment in India. Strangely, while there is mention of lower costs, they don’t seem to be going overboard (like the Indian Media is) about how much lower (maybe they have realized that while World Class can cost less, it may be a bit difficult to imagine world class co-exist with cheap. And why, one might ask, should world class be sold at such low prices anyway?)
The supply side consists of all the Indian Hospitals that hope to attract the Healthcare Tourist. And it is here that the media can actually play a catalytic role. By writing about what it is that the tourist looks for when choosing a city/hospital in which to receive treatment, the kind of post-hospital support he expects, whether this can be delivered remotely (after all India provides help desk support to the developed world across industries), media can encourage meaningful dialogue about what needs to be done to ensure that the tourist who does land up here receives medical treatment that he will gladly recommend to his friends/relatives back home.
To a country that has rarely believed in quality processes even to attract the domestic patients, depending instead on the celebrity power of a few physicians to keep the beds occupied, accreditation by a national/international agency to ensure quality does not come easy, and it will take them some time to understand the importance of these. And media can surely help here.
# posted by Srivathsan @ 11:49 AM 
