| Medical tourism, or healthcare tourism, is the act of | | | | and Turkey. With the growing years, India, judged as |
| touring overseas to obtain medical, surgical and dental | | | | one of the favorite destinations for medical or health |
| healthcare. Medical tourism is a term coined by travel | | | | tourism. |
| agencies and the media to describe a speedily | | | | People from around the world are beginning to realize |
| growing industry where people of one country travel | | | | the potential of modern and traditional Indian medicine. |
| to another country specifically for the purpose of | | | | With its state of the art hospitals and highly qualified |
| getting either cheaper or better healthcare services. | | | | UK-US trained doctors, it will soon transform into the |
| This process is being expedited by the Corporate | | | | worldwide medical hub. The Indian medical tourism |
| sector involved in medical care as well as the tourism | | | | industry, growing at an annualized rate of 30 percent, |
| industry, both private and public. Medical tourism mixes | | | | caters to patients primarily from the US, Europe and |
| leisure, entertainment and relaxation together with | | | | Africa. The medical expenses in India are a fraction of |
| wellness and healthcare. | | | | the costs in the US/Europe. India's top-notch private |
| Medical tourism healthcare procedures can include | | | | hospitals like Apollo, Fortis, and Max HealthCare have |
| elective surgeries like cosmetic surgery, dental implants | | | | attained international recognition for their |
| etc. as well as complex specialized surgeries like knee | | | | state-of-the-art facilities and diagnostic centers besides |
| hip replacement, heart surgery etc. Medical tourism is | | | | unsurpassed technical skills. |
| quite popular because sometimes the cost of health | | | | A large draw to medical travel is the convenience in |
| care treatment in other countries can be a mere | | | | comparison to that of other countries. Many people |
| one-tenth the cost of the same in the US. The ultimate | | | | from the developed world come to India for the |
| idea of the health holiday is to offer the customers an | | | | rejuvenation promised by yoga and Ayurvedic |
| opportunity to get away from their daily routine and | | | | massage, but few consider it a destination for hip |
| come into a different relaxing surrounding. | | | | replacement or brain surgery. However, a nice blend of |
| There are basically two types of medical tourism | | | | top-class medical expertise at attractive prices is |
| treatments that majority people will consider worth | | | | helping a growing number of Indian corporate hospitals |
| taking a chance on. The first one is plastic surgery. In | | | | lure foreign patients, including from developed nations |
| addition to the cosmetic surgery, people are also likely | | | | such as the UK and US. With advanced medical and |
| to engage in medical tourism when it comes to seeking | | | | biotechnological progress, India is leader in selling |
| alternative medical treatments. Medical tourism is | | | | healthcare the world over. With yoga, meditation, |
| quickly becoming a hot trend among residents of | | | | ayurveda, allopathy, and other systems of medicine, |
| developed countries with high health care costs. | | | | India offers a unique basket of services to an individual |
| Popular medical travel worldwide destinations are | | | | that is difficult to match by other countries. The tourists' |
| Colombia, Singapore, India, Thailand, Brunei, Cuba, Hong | | | | inflow for a wide medical service spectrum from |
| Kong, Hungary, India, Israel, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, | | | | wellness tourism to surgery and rehabilitation has |
| The Philippines, Singapore, and recently, UAE. Popular | | | | made India the preferred destination for medical |
| cosmetic surgery travel destinations are Colombia, | | | | tourism. |
| Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Thailand | | | | |