Reddy claimed in an interview at his Chennai Office that Apollo Hospitals is reckoning hospitals in Indonesia, Cambodia and Tanzania as the tourists seeking medical treatment in India are facing inconvenience because of the norm of special visa’s for patients which forces them to visit an immigration office.
India offers world’s largest savings for US medical touristsJUST CLICK AWAY…http://globalvisiontours.com/. But it is losing its clients to Singapore and Thailand mainly due to the visa rule. Due to the slackness of the government, India may fail to gain $40 billion that is expanding 25% a year, said Josef Woodman, founder of the guidebook Patients Beyond Borders.
According to Patients Beyond Borders, India engrossed as many as 350,000 medical tourists in 2012 compared with 250,000 a year whereas on the other hand Thailand treated as many as 1.2 million overseas patients last year, while Singapore had 610,000 medical visitors.
Foreign Patients Fortis Healthcare set up a hospital in Singapore last year and bought a stake in a hospital in Mauritius in 2009. Apollo also has hospitals in Mauritius and Bangladesh. To this Woodman said, “India has been fairly casual of this industry”.
Apollo and its competitors are also reaching out to developed markets to attract patients who are looking for treatment at a lower price. Devi Shetty, a Bangalore based cardiologist and businessman also has extended his Narayana hospital chain to the Cayman Islands.
According to Woodman, US patients can save up to 65-990% treatment in India ranging from coronary artery bypass to rhinoplasty.
Vishal Bali, group chief executive officer of Fortis Healthcare, said in an interview, “India has great latent to be a big player in global health care”. He also said, “India is the centre of our whole health-care system” as the company uses hospitals in India to serve patients from South Asia, Middle East and The West, and Singapore to treat patients from Southeast Asia.
Visa Restriction In the year 2005 a proper Visa Policy was made for medical tourist to thrive the Industry, but the various restrictions have made it impossible for the patients to enter the country, Reddy Said. The visa which is valid for a year, has to be registered with the Foreign Regional Registration Office within two week of times, but for those who are critical and going though serious health suffering finds it very difficult and is more like “insulting”, added Reddy.
The Permit only allow three entries, making it tough not only for the patients , but also to the doctor to provide the follow up treatment and has to deal with complications, he said. Compare to tourist visa, medical visa is bit costlier and more of all it is not available for nations in Africa, which affects the majority of the patients looking forward for treatment in India, according to an Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management report.
Due to the complicated and time taking process “India is losing the patients to the competing countries like Thailand and Singapore, “the report said. REFERENCE
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