For An Influx Of Medical Tourists

Even after having one of the best medical facilities in the country, Kerala’s medical tourism sector is still trailing behind other states as far as the arrival of foreign tourists is concerned. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) along with hospitals in Kerala is looking to campaign about facilities in the hospitals in the state to attract more tourists in the coming years.

CII and hospitals in the state will be organising Kerala Health Tourism (KHT) conference in Kochi on July 3 and July 4. An international delegation from nine countries including ambassadors and consul-generals will be taking part in the conference. “India has a share of 18 per cent in the global medical tourism market. The medical tourism industry is worth over 9 billion dollars in the country. However, Kerala has only around six to seven per cent share considering the number of foreign tourists arriving for treatments in the country. Annually, around 50,000 to 60,000 foreign tourists come for medical purposes in the state. The fiscal growth of Kerala’s medical tourism sector is around 15 per cent,” CII director John Kuruvilla said.

Jelson Kavalakkat, CEO of AsterMedcity, said it is still surprising that the medical tourism sector is still behind, despite recording medical advancements than the rest of the country.

“In Kerala, there are 33 hospitals with NABH accreditation which is the highest in India. Connectivity is one of the major issues as most flights, except the ones from West Asia, operate to cities such as Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai. Most of the foreigners who come to Kerala are from Gulf countries. Visibility about the medical facilities in Kerala is another issue,” he said.

Fr Johnson Vazhapilly, executive director of Rajagiri Hospital, said pro-active measures have to be taken to promote medical tourism in the state. “The Kerala Medical Value Travel Society is all set to launch a web portal which will assist medical tourists to know about the hospitals and facilities here. Earlier, medical tourist mostly came to the state for medical checkups. Now most of them visit to pursue medical treatments,” he said.

This will be the seventh edition of the Kerala Health Tourism conference to be held at Le Meriden, Kochi. The theme of the conference will be ‘Kerala- An emerging Global Hotspot for MVT’. As part of the conference, an exhibition of medical equipment and technology will be organised. – New Indian Express