Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Medical and wellness tourism is a rapidly growing segment of the global tourism industry. Hence, for capturing a share of this pie, the state of Maharashtra, which claims to have solutions for both medical and wellness tourism at affordable prices, saw the coming together of stakeholders from the field of medicine and wellness to grow medical tourism in the state.
Nearly 200 professionals of medicine and wellness, including hospitals, doctors, wellness experts – from Maharashtra and overseas, as well as representatives of the state government gathered in Mumbai recently for the first Maharashtra Health and Wellness Tourism Conference (MHWTC).
The MHWTC provided a good platform for the experts to discuss and debate on the future of medical tourism in Maharashtra, as well as the potential of the state to emerge as a serious player in the global medical tourism industry.
Currently Maharashtra gets to witness more than 50,000 medical tourists every month and is gearing up to be able to treat more. At present, it is home to more than 14,000 hospitals and more than 100,000 qualified doctors.
India is well-known for its wellness heritage. In fact, it sees more tourists coming in for yoga and Ayurveda than for other treatments. Though Kerala in southern India is perhaps the most popular and well developed wellness destination in India, Maharashtra too has a fair share, with over 100 yoga and wellness centres, catering to national and international visitors.
“Maharashtra has a lot to offer in regards of both- wellness and medical tourism. Recently in the world skill competition, Maharashtra skill labour has proven the best of having the best expertise in the wellness industry,” said Rekha Chowdhary, global wellness ambassador of India.
On the other hand, India is also taking big leaps in terms of global tech, having the best of infrastructure and manpower in place. There are more than 20,000 specialists and more than 1,50,000 nurses and paramedical staff in Maharashtra.
India is also progressing greatly with its post-operation services, especially with the digital communication at the disposal of both- the patients and doctors. Patients can now have a video chat with doctors from their home country for further consultations. However, the country’s medical institutions need to make progress in the domains of complex technologies such as AI and robotics.
