The Government is developing a comprehensive online portal for Medical Value Travel (MVT) to consolidate its position as a global healthcare destination, Shri Prataprao Jadhav, Hon'ble Minister of State (IC), Ministry of Ayush and Minister of State, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, announced today.
Speaking at FICCI's Medical Value Travel Conference, Minister Jadhav revealed plans for a digital ecosystem to integrate hospitals, facilitators, travel agents, hotels, translators, and support services on a single platform to enhance patient experience.
The government strategy includes expanding healthcare ecosystems beyond metropolitan cities into tier-2 and tier-3 regions, while strengthening collaboration with private players to enhance end-to-end services, including treatment coordination, travel arrangements, and post-treatment care.
Speaking on occasion, NITI Aayog member Prof Vinod K Paul emphasised how deregulation is "pervading through the narrative" and called for industry suggestions on reducing compliance burdens for healthcare facilities.
"We are systematically looking at how compliance burden for creation of facilities in cities, in towns, and in Tier 3 cities can be reduced," said Dr.Paul, urging stakeholders to guide this process.
Paul stressed that visa facilitation was "a very critical enabler" while emphasising the need for transparency and trust-building. On telemedicine, Dr. Paul highlighted legal challenges: "When I give advice to a patient in Ethiopia or Nepal or Finland, what is my liability? India should lead this discussion. We are the superpower in telemedicine."
He also advocated for government-to-government arrangements—"which assures a lot of confidence to both sides"—and called for enhancing "the culture of accreditation and standards" to demonstrate quality to international patients.
India's MVT market reached $7.69bn in 2024 and is projected to exceed $14.31bn by 2029. The country currently commands 18 per cent of the global MVT market and ranks tenth globally in the Medical Value Travel Index.
Secretary of the Ministry of Ayush, Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, advocated for expanding the scope of medical value travel to include India's traditional medicine systems and supported the development of a "clinical medical travel circuit" similar to existing tourism circuits.
"The AYUSH sector in India, including medical value travel, is worth nearly $30bn, with the entire sector including products and services reaching $55bn," said Kotecha, citing a recent study by Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).
Noting that India ranks seventh globally in medical value travel but 20th in wellness tourism, Kotecha pointed out that "globally, medical travel is growing at the rate of 10.8%, but we are much behind. We need to think about how to leverage the opportunity."