The term ?Medical Tourism? may be defined as an organized travel

outside of someone's health care jurisdiction to enhance or restore health through medical interventions. In other words, we can say that medical tourism covers patients traveling across the globe for tourism purposes clubbing their requirements for treatment.

Exorbitant cost of healthcare and medical facilities in advanced countries, ease and affordability of international travel, favorable currency exchange rates in the global economy, rapidly improving technology and high standards of medical care in the developing countries are some of the reasons that have brought popularity in the arena of ?Medical Tourism?.

In India ?Medical tourism? is a growing concept whereby people from world

over visit India for their medical treatment and relaxation needs. Indians,

NRIs and tourists from around the world are beginning to realize the potential

of modern and traditional Indian medicine. Indian hospitals and medical establishments have also realized the potential of this niche market and have

begun to tailor their services for foreign visitors. The Government of India,

State tourism boards, travel agents, tour operators, hotel companies and private

sector hospitals are exploring the medical tourism industry for tremendous opportunities

India is giving Thailand stiff competition in healthcare services for overseas patients with cost of surgery lower by over 30% and in fact cheapest in entire Southeast Asia. On one hand ?Medical Tourism? is fast emerging as a big opportunity for India with its low cost advantage, high quality healthcare providers and an English speaking populance and on the other hand the waiting time is much lower for any treatment in India than in any other country. Medical help is often an emergency and situations can turn worse if the treatment is delayed. One might have to wait for several months to get a surgical operation done in the US while in India things can be arranged within a week.

Some of the common treatments are heart surgery, knee replacement,

cosmetic surgery and dental care. The Infrastructure and technology

are the reasons for India being touted as one of the favorite destinations.

India constitutes the best hospitals and treatment centers in the world

with the best facilities provided. Some Top India Hospitals Include

Apollo, Fortis, Max Healthcare, Escorts, AIIMs, Wockhardt, etc. A few

good Medical tourism providers are TaMedical.com, India4health.com, Mediscapes.com and Indiaheals.com. The process of healthcare tourism is jointly facilitated by the corporate sector involved in medical and healthcare as well as the tourism industry - both private and public. It is estimated that 75-80% of health care services and investments in India are now provided by the private sector.

In a nutshell, we can say that ?Medical Tourism? has become a common form of vacationing, and covers a broad spectrum of medical services and it mixes leisure, fun and relaxation together with wellness and healthcare.