Medical Toursm to India Requires Visa – but which one?

Posted by surgery on February 3, 2010 under India | Be the First to Comment

The majority of foreigners coming to India for medical treatments have been applying for a tourist visa and not opting for an M visa, because Medical Visa norms make it mandatory for them to register with the FRRO office within 14 days of the arrival in India. This is an avoidable inconvenience imposed by the M Visa, particularly in view of the fact that the patients may not be able to leave the hospital once their treatment starts to go and register at the FRRO.

The patients who come on an M Visa have to seek the Indian hospital’s help to go to an FRRO office and comply with the procedures and this puts avoidable strain on the hospital’s resources. Therefore the hospitals have been often advising the potential patients not to apply for the M visa but instead to opt for Tourist Visa only. But this has defeated the very purpose and the good intentions with which the Government of India introduced the Medical Visa scheme.

The volume of foreign patient arrivals at Indian hospitals is growing at a healthy pace of over 40 percent every year and medical tourism is indeed the next billion dollar opportunity after IT outsourcing for India to benefit from its fast expanding private healthcare infrastructure. Indian doctors and professionals are world renowned for their skills and the country has abundance of all the inputs like talented young manpower, local high quality manufacturing base for pharmaceuticals, technology hardware and software that makes the Indian costs for high end surgical procedures so attractive.
“IMTA has apprised the concerned ministries of the Indian Government of the issues with Medical Visa and we have requested them to modify the norms to make it an enabler for the growth of Medical Value Travel to India. An early action to address the issues with Medical Visa would surely enhance the volume of international patients coming to India, it will also help to track the numbers of medical tourists arrival to India more accurately. ” Says Pradeep Thukral, Executive Director, Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA)