Let’s turn India into a global hub for medical value tourism: Here’s the strategy we must adopt
As manufacturing and IT exports lose steam, we must promote medical value tourism. India’s healthcare sector has what it takes. What’s needed is a strategic policy mix that can help turn it into a major foreign exchange earner, large-scale employer and eminent projector of India’s soft power.
With manufacturing exports threatened by tariffs and AI automation reshaping IT services, India needs a new growth engine. One opportunity lies in medical value tourism (MVT)—foreign patients travelling to India for world-class care that combines advanced medicine, competitive pricing and trusted outcomes. MVT can become a major earner of foreign exchange, a job creator and a powerful vehicle of soft power.
The global medical tourism industry is already worth $40 billion annually and is projected to reach $100 billion by 2030. With global healthcare services exceeding $6 trillion, the headroom for growth is enormous—especially as populations in developed countries age and strain their healthcare systems.
India’s share today—around 6-8%, well behind Thailand’s 25% and Turkey’s 10–15%—could realistically rise to 25–30%, given our vast pool of skilled doctors and nurses, strong tertiary care infrastructure and deep experience with complex conditions. International patients also drive a local services economy of translators, medical facilitators, hotels, transport, pharmacies and rehabilitation. Few sectors combine foreign exchange earnings, employment and national brand projection like MVT.
What India does better than its peers: Thailand and Turkey, the current poster nations of medical tourism, built their brands through hospitality, efficiency and focused niches. Thailand thrives on ‘wellness-plus-elective’ procedures—cosmetic surgery, dental work, spa-based recovery. Turkey dominates hair transplants and cosmetic procedures, backed by aggressive marketing and government facilitation. India’s advantage lies higher up the value chain in complex procedures—cardiac surgery, oncology, organ transplants, neurosurgery, advanced orthopaedics and robotic interventions.
India also stands out for its large pool of English-speaking doctors trained in global protocols, hospitals with global accreditations and long experience managing multi-morbidity cases. Add robust diagnostics, affordable generics, reputable nursing, rehabilitation services and a digital health stack to enable post-hospital-discharge care, and India offers a comprehensive care ecosystem that is hard to match.
India’s value proposition: For complex care, India delivers OECD-level outcomes at a fraction of the cost—and with far shorter wait times. A coronary bypass that costs $140,000 in the US or $15,000–20,000 in Thailand is available in India at $5,000–6,000. These savings extend across diagnostics, ICU care, medicines and follow-ups.
Lessons from peers: Thailand has perfected the experience layer—hotel-like recovery, concierge workflows, frictionless arrivals. Turkey shows the power of focus—pick a few flagship offerings and scale up rapidly.
India should resist the temptation to be all things to all patients. It should anchor its brand on ‘advanced, outcomes-led complex care at global value’—and then use hospitality and recovery excellence as added layers.
A six-point agenda would help:
Brand India as a high-end clinical destination: Launch a ‘Heal in India’ campaign focused on outcomes, success stories and patient testimonials—not just low cost. Set up a multilingual portal that lists accredited hospitals and offers transparent prices together with concierge-service support.
Ease cross-border payments: For many African patients, currency transfers are a friction point. India should enable smoother flows through pan-African payment systems, rupee vostro accounts and UPI corridors with African banks. Pre-funded patient wallets can reduce exchange-rate anxiety.
Ensure insurance portability across borders: Self-paid services limit the potential of MVT. India should negotiate with insurers in Africa, the Gulf and Central Asia to have accredited Indian hospitals included in their networks. A cross-border third-party administrator hub and sovereign-backed reinsurance would raise the system’s credibility.
Reward hospitals that attract foreign patients: Treat MVT as a service export. Offer tax credits or grants linked to verified forex earnings, with bonuses tied to infection control and patient-reported outcomes. Provide low-cost capital for ICU and robotic suites that target international patients.
Offer visas on arrival and ease logistics: Introduce a 48-hour medical e-visa with attendant visas, create green airport channels and regulate patient facilitators. Standardize discharge summaries and digital medical records to integrate these with home-country systems.
Develop medical clusters: Build hubs in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi as ‘medical export districts,’ offering plug-and-play clearances, recovery hotels and dedicated logistical support. Wellness and Ayurveda can complement it.
With focused execution, India can double foreign patient inflows in 3–5 years, especially for high-value procedures. The gains would ripple across the economy. We have an opportunity to dominate outcomes-driven advanced care at global value. If money, insurance and logistics can move as smoothly as the scalpel, medical value tourism can be India’s next great services success—and a quiet triumph of soft power.
The author is founder and chairman, Apollo Hospitals.
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