GCC accounts for 30 per cent of the traffic of medical patient flow to institutions of Apollo Hospitals in India, Asia’s a leading healthcare provider, out of the 120 countries that it caters to, said a top official.

“The Indian medical tourism industry is projected to reach $2 billion with an estimated 3,200,000 medical value travellers arriving in India in 2015, growing at an annual rate of 30 per cent based on ASSOCHAM’s report,” said Dr K Hariprasad, CEO, Apollo Hospitals.

“Healthcare experts believe that this opportunity can be realized and India can target a GDP share of 2 per cent from medical tourism in 10 years from now,” he added.

“Apollo Hospitals Group is at the forefront of medical tourism to make India the global healthcare destination,” said Dr Srinidhi Chidambaram, vice president, International Division.

“Our mission is to bring healthcare of international standards within the reach of every individual. We are committed to the achievement and maintenance of excellence in education, research, and healthcare for the benefit of humanity. Providing quality healthcare of the best grade at affordable prices is our earnest endeavour as we project ourselves to be the leading institution in the medical tourism industry.”

India has the necessary medical talent, soft and hard infrastructure, and capabilities to become a major global healthcare destination, noted Dr Chidambaram.

In addition to the cost advantage of providing best in class medical service at around 10 per cent of global costs, the unique Indian care and compassionate service is often preferred in comparison to other countries, he said.

“Comparing global prices for medical treatment, India leads in the race for providing quality healthcare services at affordable prices,” Dr Hariprasad added.

“A knee replacement on average with a ceramic implant can cost about $25,000 in USA and the same surgery in Apollo with the same implant would cost about $7,000 in a superior category room. Most of the Apollo Hospitals doctors are trained or specialized in the UK, the US, Australia, etc. and compare with the best in the world, in their chosen specialities. Apollo Hospitals has transformed 37 million lives from across 120 countries in its endeavour to provide the best healthcare services to patients,” he concluded.

Apollo Hospitals has successfully treated over 60,000 foreign patients from across the world in last five years and the numbers are looking up every year. Middle Eastern patients come to India for treatment to units like Apollo Chennai for an entire gamut of super specialty services from robotic spine to bone marrow transplant (BMT) to even heart transplant, a company statement said. – TradeArabia News Service