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Scale or whiten your tooth at $ 300 in the US, or do so at $75 in India. A smile designed at US $ 8000 could be yours at one eighth the cost in India. A dialysis in the US will shortchange you for $ 300 as against $50 for the same procedure. Bone marrow transplant, surgical oncology, cord blood transplants, transplants of the heart, lung, liver are all possible at lower costs in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and India than most developed countries where health insurance continues to shoot up in a heavily taxed public health-care system.

A chance to visit India and the Far East while healing and treating ailments at affordable costs has led patients from the developed nations to utilize health services in India at a fraction of the costs in the West. Five to seven per cent of Escorts’ patients are understood to be from abroad. Most patient traffic is from West Asia, South East Asia and Africa. International health insurance companies abroad are looking to forge partnerships with renowned specialty hospitals for Non Resident Indians (NRIs) to combine their treatment in India with their annual family visits.

The opportunity to taste India’s diverse culture, its booming economy and a quick fix of medical ailments at a cost one fifth, sometimes even one tenth of that in the developed countries have led patients the world over to descend upon India, giving rise to medical tourism. High treatment and safety standards along with personalised after care continues to lure patients into India.

A joint report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) -McKinsey study on Health tourism says that at its current pace of growth, healthcare tourism alone can rake over US$ 1.7 billion additional revenues by 2012. Medical tourism is now a US$ 299 million industry, as about 100,000 patients come each year.

The biggest driver for healthcare tourism is the disparity in costs, nearly one fifth of the cost in the developed world. India is definitely capitalizing on its low medical costs and the expertise of its highly skilled medical fraternity.

*A heart surgery in the US costs US$ 30,000 as compared to US$ 6,000 in India.
*A bone marrow transplant in the US costs US$ 250,000 and US$ 26,000 in India.

To boost the healthcare sector, the Indian Government launched the six month medical visa in 2005 that allows a foreigner to stay for a year for treatment in India. In addition, the Government has also introduced policy measures such as the National Health Policy which recognizes the treatment of international patients as an export, allowing private hospitals treating international patients to enjoy the benefits of lower import duties, an increase in the rate of depreciation (from 25 per cent to 40 per cent) for life-saving medical equipment and several tax sops.

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