India focuses on accreditation, regulations in medical sector to lure health tourists

India is focusing on regulations and accreditation for its burgeoning healthcare facilities to attract more health tourists.

Both government and the private giants on the opening day of the first-ever international summit on medical value travel in New Delhi on Monday wanted strict quality-control measures.

This is to do a global branding of its healthcare sector as India eyes to be a “top destination” for healthcare services in the world in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “brand India” slogan.

“We are bringing in several reforms, and legislations in the next parliamentary session (begins in November). This is not just to increase the number of health personnel, but also to improve the quality of services,” health secretary BP Sharma said.

Apart from legislations, he said, accreditation would be “extremely important as you have a range of service providers, some of whom are excellent and some not-so-good”.

He said accreditation would help people within the country and outside with information on which hospital provided what type of services.

“We will emphasise this (accreditation),” he said, as the private sector had placed the demand.

Styled ‘Advantage Healthcare –India 2015’, the summit brought 520 delegates from 65 countries mostly of Asia, Africa, Middle-East and CIS, a group of former Soviet republics.

The objective is a unique amalgamation of ‘5Ts’ — talent, tradition, technology, tourism and trade — as India is emerging as a preferred healthcare destination for patients across the globe for some of its world-class facilities.

Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director of the Apollo Hospitals Group, said accreditation was a must to ensure quality control.

“When we present to you and show to you a vital sector with hundreds of thousands of players it is important to connect quality providers and most important providers in the market,” she said.

This would take the “medical diplomacy” one step ahead, the daughter of the architect of modern Indian healthcare Prathap Reddy, founder of Apollo Hospitals, said.

India’s primary advantage is that it has a large pool of well-qualified and trained professionals who can offer cost effective treatment compared to its market rivals – Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

The cost of a surgery or a medical procedure in India is said to be almost one-tenth of that in Western Europe and the Americas.

Besides, the Indian government’s initiatives to address infrastructure issues in hospitals and ease visa schemes from select countries have also made it an emerging hotspot for medical tourism.

Dr Azad Moopen, Chairman and Managing Director of Aster DM Healthcare, also stressed accreditation for confidence building.

“We have the expertise, so people come to us. But the confidence level has to be raised for which accreditation is very important,” he said.

Commerce and Industry secretary Rita Teaotia also said that they had to look at the quality and accreditation issues to increase the confidence of visiting medical tourists.

She said India was a “great location for foreign patients because this is a place where an entire gamut of healthcare sector finds place”.

The market size of India’s healthcare sector is expected to increase to $160 billion by 2017 from around $79 billion now.