India Opportunity: Medical Tourism & Elder Care
This sector where there is no competition and high competency can propel Indian growth.
Medical Tourism is not new. But the circumstances are such that India can take advantage of the global demand. Let us understand how.
India Growth Series
As we approach the 2024 elections, I want to set the stage for potential opportunities for growth in India. I hope it can add to what the Prime Minister and his team are putting together. I hope these posts can reach the entrepreneurs to take up opportunities in these sectors. - Rahul
Declining population = Old Age care
The world is faced with a unique confluence of realities. On one hand, life expectancy has increased, while on the other, birth rates have declined. Rich countries are faced with extremely high-cost cost elder care.
With climate variety and well-trained staff for providing care and low-cost, high-quality medical facilities, you have a unique opportunity in India to serve the elderly population from developed countries.
Diverse medical therapies for quality of life improvement
With access to diverse medical therapies and alternative therapies, elders can improve their quality of life both mentally and physically.
We can create systems to access yoga, meditation, massage therapies, and modern and Ayurved-based diets to offer holistic well-being for elders.
Medical Tourism
The quality and breadth of talent in the medical services industry can be well-utilised in medical tourism. This concept is well established, with many patients travelling to India for medical procedures to access better quality of care and access to top class facilities.
How can we nurture this?
Both Industry and Government can help.
We need legal and regulatory support to enable Indian healthcare providers to tie up with Insurance providers globally and allow patients from developed countries to avail of these services cheaply.
We need to establish and lead the world with a standard of care that is unmatched and unbeatable.
We need to create a NASSCOM-like body with a Dewang Mehta to champion this as the next offering of India to the world.
Government can develop the support infrastructure so that we have world-class medical colleges, nursing colleges, hospital management professionals, medical waste processing, pharma Industry support, etc.
Government and Industry should also create a standard of care for old-age homes with grade-wise classifications based in different climatic zones within India.
A snapshot of Ideas:
