Govt looks to boost medical tourism via ‘Heal In India’

Preparations to promote medical tourism under the central government’s ambitious Heal in India campaign are in full swing, with the authorities planning to have a dedicated logo to promote the initiative globally, according to people familiar with the matter.

As many as 1,097 logo designs have been received from public that are currently being reviewed by the health ministry. The requirement for logo design was that it should represent the foundation of the Heal in India identity and reflect its mandate to a global audience with artistic arrangements in the national tricolour.

This pan-India initiative of the health ministry caters to people across the globe. The Heal in India initiative is focused on positioning India as a global leader in health and to boost medical tourism in the country.

The initiative involves a digital portal called Medical Value Travel, which will be a window of integrated Indian health care for the world. This portal is meant to assist international patients with their end-to-end medical journey in India as well as provide global presence and discoverability to Indian health facilities and health professionals, along with facilitating transparency to the sector.

This initiative is a multi-stakeholder project, involving the central and state governments, and the industry to offer quality health care in both modern and traditional medicine to the world, according to the government’s vision document on the initiative that HT has accessed.

The initiative is based on the foundation of Indian philosophy of Seva (service) and Athithi Devobhava (guest is like God).

The plan also intends to standardise processes and treatment packages for foreign nationals as currently there is a wide range of prices being quoted for the same procedure in different hospitals across the country. Standardisation of treatment cost so that patients are not overcharged is one of the highlights of this initiative.

“It is in a way rebranding, as with medical care, the word tourism somehow does not sound right. Also, the initiative is aimed at looking at ways with which we can make the overall experience better for patients coming from various countries to India, which is why the campaign has been thought of as the Heal in India campaign,” a central government official said, requesting anonymity.

As part of the initiative, there is also going to be a certified central grievance redressal mechanism for international patients, which has been largely missing in the country.

India is one of the more sought-after destinations among overseas patients, primarily because of the low cost of treatment, a large number of highly trained doctors, and state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment, among others. Patients from abroad come for cancer treatment, organ transplant surgeries, plastic surgery, etc.