Medical Tourism

The number of travels around the world to benefit from health services provided abroad is increasing every year. The high level of global demand for health services has influenced the rapid development of the medical tourism industry. Due to these developments in the industry, a global market has emerged, the medical tourism market. Countries operating in the industry are also striving to gain share from this large market or to increase their existing market shares. In this study, different perspective on global phenomenon, medical tourism, medical tourism market, and leader destinations in the industry are examined in detail.

Yoga Tourism as a Quest for Mental and Physical Wellbeing

Yoga tourism has become an important part of the 'travel to feel well' trend. Yoga tourism can also be seen as a subset of wellness tourism. Yoga means the amalgamation of body, mind, and spirit. Yoga is widely believed as a source to diminish stress, improve breathing, strength, and improvement in flexibility. The data has been collected through primary and secondary sources (journals, articles, and newspapers). The current study is focusing on the linkages between wellness, spirituality, and yoga tourism through an examination of the motivations of tourists visiting Rishikesh, India. Present research is exploratory in nature conducted in 2019 in Rishikesh, India. The current study tried to explore this under-researched segment by interviewing and surveying yoga travellers visiting Rishikesh, India. Current research emphasized the effect of yoga tourism on the physical and mental healing of tourists at Himalayan destinations as well as the motivational characteristics of yoga tourists.

Host Community Role in Medical Tourism Development

Today, healthcare is one of the most prominent factors in man's life, and man will continue to explore ways to find remedy from any illness. In the present time, distance is no hurdle, and therefore, man will cross all boundaries in quest of getting rid of imminent fatalities or for other healthcare problems. The study shows that there are four important reasons due to which a patient will travel to another country to seek medical care: (1) destination for medical care should be affordable, (2) waiting time for getting treatment should be minimum, (3) medical care and support system is better in foreign country than home country, and lastly, (4) such treatment is not available or not up to the mark in home country.

Dynamics of Medical Tourism Brand of India and Understanding Its Political and Economic Structures

This chapter is about understanding the dynamics of medical tourism in a country like India. What drives the whole industry of medical tourism in India? To drive the brand of India as a medical tourism destination, the perspective India presents through its economic and political perspective holistically has been explored. Therefore, the idea of the chapter is to understand medical tourism and its impact on the Indian socio-economy.

Indian Medical Tourism Industry Basics and Its Competitive Positioning

Medical tourism (MT) may be described as a journey outside the country of residence to receive medical assistance. It must be taken into account that specialized healthcare involves the participation of specialists in the field of medicine such as surgeons, who differentiate medical tourism from wellness and spa tourism. There can be two main forms of medical tourism: surgical and therapeutic. The chapter mainly aims to understand the fundamentals of medical tourism in perspective to focused on its definition, categories, growing trends, drivers, challenges, and quality standards. The specific case of the Indian medical tourism industry and its competitive position is also being discussed in this chapter.

Medical Tourism

India has been coming up as a growing destination in terms of medical tourism. Medical tourism in India at present is valued around $7-8 billion dollars. High quality services in medical context at an affordable cost have made India one of the prominent destinations of medical tourism. Medical tourism in India is exponentially growing at a rate of 30% every year. Chennai is termed as the “Health Capital of India” being the region with highest footfall in terms of medical tourists with highest number of hospitals with multi- and super-specialty services offering highest quality healthcare treatment at the lowest cost. Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are working collaboratively to promote India as a premier medical tourism destination. To facilitate the easy movement of patients for medical tourism, m-visa (medical visa) has been launched and is being promoted, which gives the patients an opportunity to stay in India for the period of their treatment.

Domestic Medical Tourism to Study the Expectations of Domestic Medical Tourists

The objective of the study was to document the features of the medical tourism sector in the state and analyse its possible implications on domestic healthcare in Jaipur, Rajasthan. In the present study, in-depth interviews were conducted with the key stakeholders in the state. The major finding that emerged from the study was that although there will be an improvement in the overall quality and availability of advanced healthcare services, accessibility to the services will be affected particularly for poorer sections due to increased cost of care. Policymakers believed the gradual growth of the private sector in healthcare and the decline of the public health sector will lead to the exclusion of a section of the domestic population from access to quality healthcare.

Medical Travel and Public Health

The medical travel market industry is growing as millions of people are crossing borders to seek healthcare services every year. Yet there is not sufficient empirical research around medical travel. People typically call all medical travelers “medical tourists,” a practice that is not helpful. Therefore, from a public health perspective, it is important to understand the definition of medical travel, the motivations behind travel, and how to overcome public health challenges that may occur as a result of this practice. Since medical travel is an experience that does not finish with obtaining health services, it is important to gather medical travelers' profiles before and after they access healthcare services. This will allow healthcare professionals to follow medical travelers' outcomes and assess their health-related quality of life. A robust evidence base will promote better future decisions related to medical travel. Creating an evidence base for medical travel will support upstream policies and strategies aimed at regulating the medical travel market.