India and its expanding medical tourism

New Delhi: When India revoked visas of Pakistani nationals in the wake of the barbaric terror attack on tourists at Pahalgam in the Kashmir valley last month, patients from the neighbouring country undergoing treatment in different hospitals in India came into the spotlight. Consequently, the Union government allowed a slight extension of the stay for medical visa holders.

Despite the historically strained relations between the countries, hundreds of Pakistani citizens would visit different cities of India for treatment every year. Over the years, India has emerged as a preferred destination for patients from neighbouring countries, and other parts of the world, including Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

“Patients consider India for medical treatment because of its combination of clinical expertise, comprehensive care and affordability,” said Dr Upasana Arora, chair, Medical Value Travel Committee, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

India offers internationally accredited hospitals and skilled English-speaking medical professionals. Treatments are often two to three times cheaper than in many Western countries, says Arora, who is also the managing director of a chain of super-speciality hospitals.

The number of medical visas issued by India nearly doubled to 5.97 lakh in 2023 from 3.75 lakh in 2019, as per data from the Ministry of External Affairs. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic (2020) India issued 1.52 lakh medical visas. People from Nepal are not included in this count, as they can visit India without a visa.

Bangladesh is one of the top source countries for medical tourists to India. It accounts for more than half of the medical visitors to India. As per Bureau of Immigration data, out of around 6,35,000 medical tourist visitors to India in 2023, around 3,50,000 were from Bangladesh. Strains in relations following political unrest in Bangladesh led to a substantial drop in visas granted by New Delhi to Bangladeshi nationals in 2024. As a result, the overall number of medical visas issued by India declined to 4.64 lakh in 2024, around 22% lower when compared with the previous year.

In the Union Budget 2025-26, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined a number of initiatives to strengthen India’s position in medical tourism. “Medical tourism and ‘Heal in India’ will be promoted in partnership with the private sector, along with capacity-building and easier visa norms,” Sitharaman said in her budget speech.

India ranks seventh in the top 20 wellness tourism markets globally. In the Medical Tourism Index 2021-22, India was ranked 10 out of 46 destinations in the world, as per the latest data released by the US-based Medical Tourism Association.  

Medical tourism involves a combination of the healthcare and tourism sectors, both among the large job providers and contributors to the national economy.  It has now been rechristened as ‘medical value travel’ (MVT) to capture its wider economic impact.

An estimated 1.4 crore people across the world travel overseas annually for medical reasons. The United States, Germany, China, France, Japan and India are among the leading countries for wellness tourism in terms of the size of the wellness tourism market.

The size of India’s medical value travel is projected to reach $13.42 billion by 2026 from around $2.89 billion in 2020, as per the Ministry of Tourism data.

Alternative medicine

The Heal in India initiative seeks to position India as a holistic healthcare destination.

International Meditation Foundation Chairman Swami Advaitananda Giri says there is immense potential to integrate the country's modern medical facilities with Yoga and traditional systems of medicine including Ayurveda, Unani and naturopathy.

“The combination of modern medical facilities and traditional systems differentiates India from other global medical value travel markets,” Giri says.

Ayurveda has a growing influence on holistic healthcare and wellness tourism, says Dr Mahesh Vyas, Dean and Head of Department, Samhita Siddhant Department at All India Institute of Ayurveda. “By integrating traditional medicine with modern healthcare, AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy) can play an important role in addressing various health challenges worldwide,” Vyas says.

Kerala is among the top destinations for traditional wellness systems. “While a normal tourist spends only five to seven days, those coming down for Ayurvedic care spend at least ten days and could extend it to months depending on the treatment requirements,” says Sajeev Kurup, president of Kerala Ayurveda Promotion Society.

The central government’s decision in 2023 to introduce the AYUSH visa to facilitate foreign nationals seeking these forms of treatment is expected to further boost the sector.

One of the key attractions for foreign patients travelling to India is cost-effectiveness. The cost of medical procedures and treatments in India is substantially lower than not only western countries but also the Asian peers like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

As per a NITI Aayog report, the average cost of a knee replacement procedure for foreign patients in India is around $6,600, which is less than half of the cost in Thailand, $14,000. In Singapore, the cost is even higher at $16,000, while in Malaysia it costs $7,700. A heart bypass procedure costs over $15,000 in Thailand, while in India, the cost is around $7,900.

Hospital operators and other stakeholders argue that cost is just one factor, as the quality of healthcare services in India is also at par with global standards. “India’s ascent as a medical destination goes beyond cost; it is anchored in clinical excellence, geopolitical and geographical proximity, and institutional resilience,” says Pavan Choudary, chairman, Medical Technology Association of India.

“India offers a compelling blend of internationally accredited healthcare, cost efficiency, and high clinical outcomes,” says Anil Vinayak, group chief operating officer at a network of hospitals that caters to nearly 30,000 foreign patients annually. 

Regional contributions

Southern and western states have a greater concentration of medical value travel services providers. JCI accreditation, granted by Joint Commission International (JCI), is a global recognition of high-quality and safe healthcare practices. As per the ‘National Strategy and Roadmap for Medical and Wellness Tourism’ released by the Union Ministry of Tourism in  2022, Delhi has the highest number of JCI-accredited hospitals, followed by Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

The number of JCI-accredited hospitals, as per the tourism ministry report released in 2022, stood at nine in Delhi, six in Mumbai, three in Bengaluru and two in Chennai.

According to an official who did not wish to be named, the Tamil Nadu government plans to set up a dedicated agency for medical tourism to streamline patient facilitation, enhance healthcare accessibility, and integrate traditional wellness therapies like Ayurveda and Siddha.  

Chennai is among the favourite destinations for patients from countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Dr J Amalorpavanathan, former head, Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu, says the revenues from foreign patients facilitate capital investments by private hospitals. “In recent years, global private equity firms have been investing in Indian healthcare, attracted by high revenues and robust growth. Investments were of the order of $5.5 billion in hospitals and the pharmaceutical sector during 2023, marking a 25% year-on-year growth,” Amalorpavanathan wrote in the Journal of Medical Evidence.

Hyderabad is preferred among many patients from the US, Nigeria and the UAE due to its advanced infrastructure, says Suman Sayani, a Hyderabad-based healthcare consultant.

According to officials, the Telangana government is also strategically leveraging the Miss World 2025 competition, being hosted in Hyderabad from May 10 to 31, to showcase the region as a premier medical tourism destination. The government aims to position Hyderabad as a trusted hub for both modern and traditional medical care.

(With inputs from Arjun Raghunath in Thiruvananthapuram, E T B Sivapriyan in Chennai, Mrityunjay Bose in Mumbai and S N V Sudhir in Hyderabad.)