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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, NOV 11: Travel itineraries are getting more innovative by the day, and now we have the Ministry of Health throwing its cap in with packages that promise OT (operation theatre) by day and the Taj by moonlight.
Medical tourism is the latest Health Ministry chant that is expected to rake in foreign exchange for the government, boost the morale of the health sector, prop up the ailing tourist industry and also, give occupancy to ITDC hotels that are mostly in the red.
The Health Ministry is tying up with the Ministry of Tourism to hard sell India’s hospitals and alternative medicine centres to foreigners looking for medical treatment and a good time. The logic being that everyone loves a prescription that offers a little sight-seeing on the side.
“Using the Kerala example, we will link up allopathic and ayurvedic treatment with tourism so that people who come for treatment can see the Taj Mahal before going home,” says Health Minister C. P. Thakur, pleased as punch. And if the Minister’s praise of our “world class” doctors is to be believed, the detour to an ophthalmic surgeon will help tourists see India all the better.
The Health Ministry is in the process of identifying the areas of excellence in various hospitals, most of which — the Minister points out — lie in and around places frequented by tourists. “Some, like the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for kidney transplants, the PGI Chandigarh for respiratory medicine, and the R. P. Centre at AIIMS for Ophthalmic Sciences, immediately come to mind,” says Director General of Health Services S.P. Aggarwal.
Thakur is equally excited about the growing interest in alternative systems of medicine, and the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine & Homeopathy (ISM&H) is also identifying centres at convenient distances from tourist destinations. “Kerala is already doing well with the rejuvenating treatment of panchkarma, and now other ISM properties like the Indian Institute of Ayurveda in Jaipur and the Gujarat Ayurvedic University, which is situated in a heritage property, will be developed and linked with tourism,” says ISM&H secretary Shailaja Chandra.
The tourists will be sent to accredited centres which will be run according to guidelines set by the Department of ISM&H. “The Health Ministry’s proposal is being circulating in the Department of Tourism and will beimplemented as soon as it’s approved,” says Chandra. She says some international tour operators have shown interest and a New York-based one has already sent in his itinerary.
The tourists will “naturally” be charged higher rates than the Indian patients, said Thakur, “but these would still be a fraction of what they would have to pay abroad.” Already, people in the Gulf seek treatment in India, says Agarwal. “It’s the Americans and the Europeans that we are targeting.”
