Much like India’s IT industry—which “offers technology parks with five-star hotels within them to cater to visiting foreign business people—the medical tourism sector should,” in Rao’s view, build world-class medical center parks “staffed and dedicated to foreign patients.”
To be sure, India does have a thriving medical tourism industry already.
It caters largely to private-pay patients from Asia and its suppliers are fragmented.
In Rao’s view, the nascent India Medical Tourism industry should consider establishing “primary care clinics in America to refer patients to India, for free.”
The system should then offer “one-stop service, soup to nuts—travel, accommodation, cashless direct billing, 24×7 customer service and post-hospital care—all coordinated through a single portal or call centre.”
“Arriving patients should be met at the airport by a full-time adviser who stays with the patient until departure, much like a conducted tour manager. Top quality health care requires abundant (perhaps even redundant) labor and India offers a competitive advantage here. And India has the advantage of being able to recruit English-speaking workers for the entire experience.”
“Post-surgical rehabilitation could include camps at yoga, meditation and balanced-diet clinics, already respected as Indian exports in many parts of the U.S.”
Outsourcing medical care may be the only way for America to control runaway health sector costs.
“India is already a powerhouse in the production and distribution of the world’s generic drugs such as for controlling hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. Expanding the medical tourism industry is a natural byproduct of India’s pharma industry success. But doing so should become a concerted public-private partnership where careful planning and world-class execution are vital,” wrote Rao.
