Recently there was a lot of buzz about the latest McKinsey report in the medical tourism industry. While the report supports the fact that the potential of this industry is largely untapped, it also claims that the number of possible patients is lesser than that being claimed. I feel the report has not shown every aspect of medical tourism and has certain glaring fallacies.
The biggest shock came to me in the introduction where it was told that the study had excluded ‘wellness tourists’, expatriates, outpatients and those undergoing treatment on an emergency basis. One can broadly divide medical tourists into two categories – those patients who come for medical care and also visit a few tourist destinations, and those tourists who come for visiting places and have some medical treatment. This report has completely ignored the latter kind.
It is well-known all across the industry that wellness tourists, i.e. those who want to go undergo some cheap medical treatment when they are in a country as tourists, form a sizeable chunk of the market. Even expatriates prefer getting treated in their home country when they come there for casual visits. In fact, a foreign tourist can even get in touch with a medical tourism provider or a hospital once he has already come in their country. Not only do foreign tourists get tempted by low costs, but it is also the treatment with luxury and traditional techniques like yoga, acupuncture, ayurveda, etc. which attracts them to undergo treatments of various sorts in the host country.
Considering the fact that the number of medical or tourist visas issued by a government authority is not shared to private agencies, it is not possible to guess the exact amount of medical tourists. Such data are very difficult to obtain with certainty in this largely unorganised industry. No wonder that McKinsey has given a broad range of 60,000 – 85,000 patients – a figure which is pretty much speculative. And on this broad speculative range they try to challenge the general existing estimate.
The market for this industry is growing at a fast pace and its scope is tremendous and largely unrealised. Several good companies in various countries are working to please their clients by giving them the best medical care with great luxury and a chance to visit famous tourist destinations, at very affordable costs. I’ve known one company, Value Medicare ( www.valuemedicare.com ), which has been offering services in India, and has most of its clientele in the US. It has been found that most of the people who travel to distant places are generally very satisfied with the treatment and the care which they receive. Once a few hassles like infrastructure, insurance issues, legal issues, etc. are overcome, this industry is sure to rocket-off!
