Can Bariatric Procedures Be A New Avenue For Medical Tourism In India?
Express Healthcare|June 2017

Bariatric procedures with its varied opportunities is set to drive medical tourism. However, certain SOPs need to be in place, finds out Raelene Kambli.

Raelene Kambli
Can Bariatric Procedures Be A New Avenue For Medical Tourism In India?

The recent furuore around the contentious bariatric procedure of the Egyptian national, Eman Ahmed brought to light two important aspects of medical tourism in India-the urgent needs for Standard Operating protocols(SOPs) and an increasing contribution of metabolic and bariatric procedures to medical value travels.

As per the Ministry of Tourism, close to 200,000 patients travel to India for medical tourism every year. As per their data, the country is witnessing a 22-25 per cent growth in medical tourism and healthcare providers expect the industry will double to $6 billion by 2018 from its present $3 billion market. The Ministry says that the contribution of metabolic and bariatric surgeries to medical tourism seem minuscule at present , yet the number of medical tourists seeking weight loss treatments is on the rise. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as well opines that the discipline has great potential to make India a haven for medical tourism.

The industry also seem to be very upbeat about this trend.

Metabolic and bariatric surgery experts further inform that on an average around 15000-18,000 surgeries are conducted every year in India and this number is expected to rise.

This story is from the June 2017 edition of Express Healthcare.

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This story is from the June 2017 edition of Express Healthcare.

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