Medical tourism

Topic: Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary Activities · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 7 "Lifelines of National Economy"; Class 12, Ch 6 "Tertiary and Quaternary Activities"

Meaning

Medical tourism means a patient travels to another country to get medical treatment, so it combines medical treatment with international travel. It matters because it is a fast-growing tertiary activity (a service, not a good). India is one of the world's leading host countries, and it earns foreign exchange from its hospitals, doctors and traditional medicine.

Explanation

How it works: cause → process → result

• Cause: push factors (problems in the patient's home country)
• Treatment costs too much.
• Waiting lists are long.

• The specialist care the patient needs is not available.

• Process: the patient moves to the service

• In medical tourism, the patient crosses the border, not the service.

• The trip needs hospitals, visas, transport and hotels. So it brings together health care and the travel trade.

• Result: the host country gains

• Hospitals, hotels and airlines earn money.
• In 2025, 5,07,244 foreign nationals came to India for medical treatment. That was about 5.5% of all foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) [2].
• Industry estimates put India's medical-tourism market at about USD 8.7 billion in 2025, and it may reach USD 16.2 billion by 2030 [2].

Pull factors: why patients choose India

• Lower cost. Surgery in India costs a small part of what it costs in the US or Europe.
• English-speaking doctors. Many were trained in, or are recognised by, Western systems.
• Short waiting times. Surgery can often be done within days.
• AYUSH and wellness therapies. AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy) is India's group of traditional systems of medicine.
• NABH-accredited hospitals. NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers) is India's body that checks hospital quality [3].

The NCERT case and how it has changed

• NCERT box, "Medical Services for Overseas Patients in India":
• About 55,000 patients from the USA came to India for treatment in 2005.
• This was small next to the millions of surgeries done every year inside the US.

• Even so, India had already become one of the leading medical-tourism countries, with world-class hospitals in its big cities.

• Today's pattern is different. Most patients now come from India's neighbourhood, West Asia, Central Asia and Africa, not from the USA [2].

• Bangladesh alone sends about two in every three patients [2].
• Reasons: a shared land border, a shared language (Bengali), and how close it is to Kolkata and Chennai.

Policy support in India

• e-Medical Visa and e-Medical Attendant Visa. An attendant is a family member who travels with the patient. These visas are open to nationals of 172 countries [2].
• AYUSH Visa (27 July 2023) [3]:
• It is a separate visa for foreigners who come only for AYUSH treatment.
• It has four sub-categories: Ayush Visa (AY-1), Ayush Attendant Visa (AY-2), e-Ayush Visa and e-Ayush Attendant Visa [3][2].

• Treatment must happen in a hospital or wellness centre accredited by a government authority or by NABH [3].

• Medical and Ayush Visa Portal. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) runs it. Only authorised hospitals can invite genuine patients through pre-checked medical visas [3].

• Heal in India. This is the government's main campaign to promote India for medical and wellness travel [2].
• The Union Budget 2025-26 said it will be promoted in partnership with the private sector, with capacity building and easier visa norms [4].
• A one-stop Medical Value Travel portal (www.healinindia.gov.in) is being upgraded. Patients will be able to explore and book services, pay, and get care after surgery, all in one place [5].
• Medical Value Travel (MVT) is the official Indian term for medical tourism.

Where it occurs

In the world (NCERT): medical tourism is growing fast in four Asian countries: India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

Main source countries of patients coming to India (2025) [2]

Rank	Source country	Region	Patients (2025)
1	Bangladesh	South Asia (neighbour)	3,25,127
2	Iraq	West Asia	30,989
3	Uzbekistan	Central Asia	13,699
4	Somalia	East Africa (Horn of Africa)	11,506
5	Turkmenistan	Central Asia	10,231
6	Oman	West Asia (Gulf)	9,738
7	Kenya	East Africa	9,357

Main hubs in India

Hub	State/UT	Known for
Chennai	Tamil Nadu	Called the "health capital of India"; large share of foreign patients; heart, bone and eye care
Delhi-NCR (Delhi, Gurugram, Noida)	Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh	Large multi-speciality hospitals; patients from West Asia and Central Asia
Mumbai	Maharashtra	Cancer care and transplants
Hyderabad	Telangana	Multi-speciality hospitals and a pharma base
Bengaluru	Karnataka	Heart care; link with IT-based health services
Kerala	Kerala	Ayurveda and wellness tourism

Don't confuse with

• Medical outsourcing: here the patient stays at home and only the test or report crosses the border. One example is teleradiology (scans are sent over the internet to a faraway radiologist, a doctor who reads scans, who writes the report). NCERT names India, Switzerland and Australia for this, not Thailand or Singapore.
• Tertiary vs quaternary/KPO: medical tourism is a tertiary service (health care plus travel). Medical outsourcing is a quaternary/KPO activity. KPO (Knowledge Processing Outsourcing) means high-skill work that needs expert judgement.
• Wellness (AYUSH) tourism vs general medical tourism: AYUSH travellers have their own AYUSH Visa (from 27 July 2023), separate from the e-Medical Visa [3]. Kerala is the main Ayurveda hub, while Chennai is the main hub for modern hospital care.

Prelims Hooks

• NCERT: about 55,000 US patients came to India for treatment in 2005.
• Fast-growing medical-tourism countries (NCERT): India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia. Trap: the teleradiology countries are India, Switzerland, Australia.
• Largest source country of medical tourists to India: Bangladesh (3,25,127 in 2025), followed by Iraq and Uzbekistan [2].
• In 2025, medical tourists (5,07,244) made up about 5.5% of FTAs [2].
• AYUSH Visa: introduced 27 July 2023, with 4 sub-categories (AY-1, AY-2, e-Ayush, e-Ayush Attendant) [3]. e-Medical visas are open to 172 countries [2].
• The Medical and Ayush Visa Portal is run by the Ministry of Home Affairs, not the Ministry of Tourism [3]. Chennai (Tamil Nadu) is called the "health capital of India".

Mains Points

• Why India became a hub (GS-I, service sector):
• Push and pull: high cost and long waits abroad, against India's low cost, English-speaking doctors, NABH hospitals and AYUSH.

• Policy help: e-Medical and AYUSH visas, Heal in India, and support in Budget 2025-26 [2][3][4].

• Spatial pattern:

• Patients come mainly from South Asia (Bangladesh), West Asia, Central Asia and East Africa [2].
• They go to a few metro hubs (Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru), plus Kerala for wellness.

• Result: health services cluster in cities, and other regions fall further behind.

• Equity and regulation concerns (GS-I/GS-III):

• Top private hospitals serve foreign patients who pay more. Doctors may leave public hospitals, so the gap in care between India's cities and villages grows.
• Unregistered agents and unaccredited centres create quality and fraud risks. NABH accreditation and the MHA portal try to control this [3].
• Policy should use medical-tourism earnings to strengthen public health and accreditation.

Related concepts

• Medical outsourcing

Read more

• Medical tourism and medical outsourcing