Medical Tourism has experienced a high growth rate in the recent past and one of the most important factors contributing to this is the standardization of medical procedures, practices and equipments. Organizations, government bodies and medical institutions have been trying to set up some global standards and have been successful to a large extent. Today specialist doctors often travel to foreign countries to get acquainted with their medical practices and this helps to spread the knowledge. Global availability of prescription drugs, use of standard medical terminologies, helps doctors to create benchmarks for their service.



Countries like India and Malaysia have emerged as the major hubs for medical tourism. One of the main advantages in these countries is that most good doctors are trained in US, Canada, UK or other developed nations and are members of one or more international professional associations. Some of them would also have the experience of working with hospitals in the USA, Canada and other foreign countries. This rich experience and high level of knowledge help the doctors to assure their patients of similar high quality service that they would receive in their home country.

India is probably the most preferred destination of medical tourism. Not only are the doctors in India highly educated and experienced but also the infrastructure and medical facilities available there are at par, if not better than most developed countries. To top the cake, the inherent hospitable nature of the Indians probably makes the best nurses and doctors in the world. Most private hospitals in India offer very high level of medical care and hospital experience and some of the top hospitals are members of international medical associations.

In addition, the cost of treatment in these countries is often lower by 50% or more compared to the cost of similar treatment in USA, UK or other developed countries. Also, while most advanced countries would require the patients to wait for long periods before undergoing any critical treatment or major operation, in most of these medical tourism destinations, the waiting time is virtually nil. Medical tourism brings together world-class treatment at affordable cost with no waiting time.

While Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia are close competitors, India still retains her lead by virtue of the incredible experience that it can offer to tourists in terms of the multi-cultural population, natural beauty, rich history, colorful festivals and mouth watering cuisines. The patients not only get a chance to avail world-class medical treatment but also can enjoy an enriching experience during his/her pre or post treatment stay in India.

As medical tourism grows as an industry, all these countries are expected to pull up their socks to acquire a larger share of this market. While marketing skills would definitely contribute to the market share, the quality of medical services would be the actual determining factor. A healthy competition to enhance medical tourism is sure to lead to overall growth and improvement of medical services in these countries.