Medical Tourism: Travel For Healing
Ravi Virmani, MD & Founder Credihealth: Chairperson said that Medical tourism is a 2 billion US dollars industry in India and growing very fast. We (India) need to make it more transparent and efficient. The consolidation and conglomeration are happening in healthcare sector at a very rapid rate.
Amit Ranjan, Founder and CEO, Medtravels said that we must be very careful while understanding the budget and needs of the patients. We (his organization) did a lot of surveys to estimate the various needs of different patients. Another Panellist, Vishal Laroia, Founder & CEO, GHS India said that people coming for medical attention need hotels, food, and other amenities and all industries involved must work in sync with the med tour operators. He mentioned that a lot of other things like local transportation and currency exchanges are also expected to be done by us as tour operators. We (his setup) aimed at patients from the SAARC nations primarily.
Anil Maini, President & CEO, Medanta Africare said that if we (medical bodies) have our respective offices in other nations, we can expect more patients here in India. We (Medanta) invested in Kenya for pre and post medication healthcare too. Medanta helps patients to come smoothly to India for diversified range of treatments. Although, Whole African nations require serious medical attention and we need to reach out to them soon.
Amit Bansal, CEO & Co-Founder, Medigence said that we (his setup) have realised the role of offline channels as well and we never wanted to lose our market by relying only on the digital network. He added that Medical tourism is a synergy between tour operators and medical agencies. Medical travel is not only about the treatment, but it is also about the experience that they carry regarding the whole nation.
Ranjitha Shaw, PR and Communications, Roseate Hotels said that Hospitality remains very critical in medical tourism. We (Roseate) understand the dietary plans and other requirements suggested by the doctors and hence we serve our clients accordingly. Therefore, customisation is a very personalized service that is expected from us (Roseate).
