GREATER NOIDA, India, Nov. 13, 2019,/PRNewswire/ -- Dr Anup Wadhawan, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, today urged the healthcare industry to set up an online portal that will facilitate international patients coming to India for treatment. The portal will have relevant information and services to help patients plan their travel and treatment.

Speaking at the 5th International Summit on Medical Value Travel - 'Advantage Healthcare India 2019' organized by FICCI jointly with the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Dr. Wadhawan said, "Medical value travel is beyond just treatment, it's treatment-plus and the industry should see what are the qualitative aspects that need to be improved in our healthcare services."

Dr Wadhawan added that India has significant medical infrastructure, yet the majority of these are in the metro cities. To provide comprehensive medical coverage, it is imperative that rural areas should also have access to the latest and affordable healthcare.

Ms Sangeeta Godbole, Director General, Services Export Promotion Council, Government of India, said, "India has very strong traditional healthcare ways that will help in furthering the cause of healthcare not only in our country but also in the rest of the world."

Dr Sangita Reddy, President-elect, FICCI, & Joint Managing Director Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, said that India is unparalleled in delivering quality medical care at one-tenth of the global cost and aims to transform this sector so that India becomes the epicentre of medical value travel. "Concepts of telemedicine and online consultations are growing tremendously," she added.

Dr Harish Pillai, Chair, FICCI MVT Committee, & Chief Executive Officer, Aster India, Aster DM Healthcare Ltd, said that the Indian medical and wellness market is growing, and medical value travel is also adding to this growth. "India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing markets in medical value travel and the National Medical Value Travel Committee at FICCI has been giving recommendations to the government, advocating policy change in the sector," added Dr Pillai.

Dr Narottam Puri, Adviser MVT & Health Services, FICCI, and Ex-chairman, NABH, while introducing the 'FICCI Code of Ethical Conduct by Indian Hospitals' said, "Hospitals signing this code provide a commitment of morality and ethics in the management of patients."

Dr Devlina Chakravarty, Former Co-chair, FICCI MVT Committee, & Managing Director, Artemis Hospitals, said that Indian hospitals have worked hard to deal with the issue of infection in hospitals and today the rate of infection has come down due to the stringent anti-microbial policy brought in by major hospitals across the country.

'FICCI-EY Knowledge Paper on India: Building Best Practices in Healthcare Services Globally' was also released during the event.

FICCI-EY Knowledge Paper on India: Building Best Practices in Healthcare Services Globally - Key takeaways of the report:

Medical value travel (MVT) has evolved rapidly in the past two decades. Many countries, especially developing counties, are trying to establish themselves as major MVT hubs. The global medical travel market was valued at US$53,768 million in 2017. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.9% from 2018-25. As healthcare turns costlier in developed countries like USA and UK, India's MVT market is expected to become US$ 9 billion by 2020. Major destination cities in India are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. A total of 27% of medical travellers visit Maharashtra out of which 80% goes to Mumbai. Chennai attracts nearly 15% while Kerala handles around 5-7%. Major source markets for India are countries from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and SAARC region. More than 50% of medical travellers coming to India are from Bangladesh. India's offerings in the MVT space have led it to be one of the most popular MVT destinations. These offerings include affordable treatment, service and care and tourism.

The three-day event including exhibition will witness participation of over 400 buyers, 200 exhibitors from 70 countries.