India’s high medical skills together with hospitals investing in advanced technology would enable generation of Rs.12.40 lakh ($20,000) per patient as against Rs.1.24 lakh ($ 2,000 per person) from general tourism, said Dr Prathap Reddy, founder and chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group.

Asking the central and state governments to promote tourism, Dr Reddy feels there should be equal support for medical tourism going by the scope for Indian healthcare specialists to prove their mettle.

India’s skill sets are second to none in the world and this along with investments in the latest technology both diagnostic and surgical by its healthcare providers could see the country garner the much required revenues to boost growth in healthcare. Currently, out of the 8 million annual inflow of international tourists into India, 2 million are for medical tourism. We are witnessing a 30 per cent uptick in annual medical tourists which indicates the positive image of Indian healthcare. Patients from Africa, Middle East and Asian regions access Indian hospitals for cardiac interventions, joint transplant, dental care, among others. We do expect an increase in patients from the US and UK where governments are under pressure to control healthcare costs, said Dr Reddy, who was here in Bengaluru in connection with the 1,000th joint replacement at the Apollo Hospital, Jayanagar centre, Bengaluru.

The advent of 4G mobile phone services would now be a paradigm shift in the healthcare industry and this would also further give fillip to medical tourism.

In order to garner a substantial share of the medical tourism revenues, Apollo Group has slated an investment of Rs.150 crore to open a 200-bed facility at Malleswaram in Bengaluru, its third super speciality centre in Karnataka. The Greenfield hospital will be commissioned in April 2015 and will have a 50-bed critical care capacity with an e-ICU for monitoring critical care patients remotely. Over 100 senior consultants will provide round the clock care.

“Karnataka has been on the top of the medical tourism map and Apollo's two existing facilities in Bengaluru have seen 150 international patients access care. The installations of oncology diagnostics and treatment, besides latest surgical innovations in cardiology and orthopaedics have brought international patients to India. This third facility in Bengaluru equipped with complete range of diagnostics and advanced operation theatres to perform complex interventions will also work to treat foreign patients who look to India for high quality care from its qualified medical teams,” said Dr Reddy.

According to the KPMG-CII report, India’s medical tourism market is estimated to touch $3.9 billion in 2014 as against 85 million in 2012. The segment generated a compounded annual growth rate of 27 per cent over the last three years.