Medical tourism - unwrapping the gift of globalisation

Many countries of the world are now promoting themselves as international medical centres and attracting patients from across the globe. With competition in medical tourism intensifying further, India must conquer a share of the international medical services market to stay in the competition. The present study tries to find the reasons why the inbound patients, especially from the developed world (notably the USA, Europe, and Britain) consider India as a remedial destination. The study also tries to find how far the considerations of cost and quality in this sector matter to all inbound patients. The study has tried to identify important factors, like the low waiting time for seeking treatment, the potential for savings and the quality of medical facilities on offer, which patients from abroad consider decisive while choosing India for the purpose of medical aid