Internet-powered technologies shaping the globalization of the new age are also in some ways reducing the need for cross-border travel for services. And telemedicine is one such technology-based service. With the ongoing pandemic, which is leading to an almost crystallization of all-round behavior in terms of limited physical and social fraternization, telemedicine has acquired permanent value in our lives.
Particularly against the backdrop of the emergence of Medical Value Travel (MVT) as a specialized health-focused travel service in recent years, telemedicine has emerged as an effective alternative to those who want access to quality health care outside of their own country.
India has always been a major draw for people outside the country as it is also a repository for traditional knowledge and wisdom related to health and wellbeing.
And continuing that tradition, it has maintained its popularity and goodwill with global health and wellness enthusiasts in recent times.
In 2019, nearly seven lakh, or 6.4 percent of all tourists, came to India for medical purposes only. A year earlier, in 2018, almost 25 percent came from Western Asia for medical purposes, followed by Africa (14.6 percent), South Asia (13 percent) and Eastern Europe (4.2 percent). And of the West Asians, 86 percent of Iraqis, 54 percent of Yeminis, almost 29 percent of Omanis and over 10 percent of Saudi Arabian tourists came to our country only for medical reasons. Similarly, among our South Asian neighbors, 30 percent of Afghans, 22 percent of Maldives, and 14 percent of Bangladeshis came for medical purposes alone.
And this influx of medical tourists is not limited to just these sources. India is also a popular destination for medical tourists from advanced countries like the USA. According to the Medical Tourism Index, which rates the American perception of 46 international health destinations, India ranks sixth in terms of medical tourism industry, sixth in terms of quality of facilities and services, and tenth place in the 2020-21 period Index.
Huge potential
The combination of travel with medical value with telemedicine has great potential not only to improve capacity building in customer countries and improve patient outcomes, but also to generate valuable foreign exchange (through services offered), create jobs and, above all, in soft power -Projections of a country to help.
MVT can not only complement the increasing traction in telehealth, it can even serve as a force multiplier for the latter. And for the customer country, inexpensive access to high quality care without physical travel would be a great incentive. In principle, telemedicine can help with the preliminary assessment of patients before medical value trips to another country have to be undertaken. Given that radiology services are typically expensive, teleradiology can help reduce costs by enabling the transmission of patient images such as X-rays, CT scans and MRI images, enabling high quality analysis from locations in India. Once the preliminary assessment is complete, a patient can travel to a health destination country such as India for advanced treatment or relevant surgery.
As telehealth emerges as a critical part of the Covid-19 galvanized Indian healthcare system, it can make an invaluable contribution to the global medical values market for Indian healthcare. In addition to developing a comprehensive policy draft for this purpose, the government should also work out legal, technological and investment issues with potential client countries.
In fact, India could identify some customer countries first and then use that template for others.
The author is the CEO of Apollo TeleHealth
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