Earlier this month Hindi film actor Sonu Sood flew 12 Filipino children suffering from acute liver disease in a charter flight for an urgent liver transplant in hospitals here. Around five of them were admitted to Max Healthcare, while seven to Apollo Hospital.

Such symbolic moves have uplifted the industry’s spirit and now it expects medical tourists to trickle in to India from October-November onwards. The industry and the government are working on standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure safe passage for the medical tourists.

Several air-bubble arrangements are in the works, and are likely to increase in the coming days. Governments have started working out bilateral or tripartite travel bubble or corona bubble arrangements to allow citizens to member countries entry into their territories. The smaller bubbles are the precursors to resuming international air travel.

According to the tourism ministry, India ranked as the third most popular tourism destination in 2015 when the industry was worth $3 bn. It was estimated to touch $9bn (close to Rs 70,000 crore) by 2020.

ALSO READ: Personal healthcare and medical insurance ad volumes up amidst pandemic

In 2020, things went downhill, though. Revenues completely dried up from this channel. Kapil Banga, analyst with ICRA said that for large corporate chains the revenue from medical tourists would be 10-12 per cent and large players account for bulk of the medical tourists. The volumes, Banga felt, are lower than 10 per cent. The average revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB) is high for medical tourists as they come for complex procedures.

Dilip Jose, CEO of Manipal Hospitals that runs hospitals primarily in southern states of India explained that there are typically two types of medical tourists – one is from countries where healthcare infrastructure is poor and another category is of people from rich countries but who are under-insured. The first category is the larger category as far incoming traffic is concerned.

“We expect to see some traffic in October as bilateral air bubbles gain pace. We may begin to see some trickling in of tourists from countries like Oman, Kenya, Malaysia etc,” Jose said. He added that if this model works and the connectivity picks up, then by end of the fiscal year, we will be around 60 per cent of the pre-Covid levels.

Key countries from where we get medical tourists:

Top 3 countries include

1) Bangladesh

2) Afghanistan

3) Iraq

> Uzbekistan, Turkmenista, Nigeria, Kenya, Fiji are also key countries

> India gets patients from 120 countries

Medical tourist revenues account for roughly 10 per cent of Manipal Hospitals’ revenue.

Some key players, however, feel that the downturn due to the pandemic may help to boost footfall of medical tourists. Abhay Soi, chairman and managing director of Max Healthcare felt that the global economic crisis thanks to the pandemic may prove to be a shot in the arm for India emerging as a hotspot for medical tourism.

“The Covid-19 crisis has impacted every economy in the world. When these economies shrink, there will be a search for value, and one wont get any greater value than you get in India, he said. Soi also highlighted that a heart bypass surgery costs around $120,000 in the US, about $100,000 in the UK and $30,000 or so in Singapore. In comparison, it would cost $4000-5000 in the top hospitals in India.

Max gets about 12-13 per cent of its revenues from medical tourism.

ALSO READ: Covid-19 crisis: Tracking the coronavirus footprint across the world

Hospitals have kept their patient outreach program going. “We have kept in touch through video conferencing, follow up advice and keep engaging them,” Jose said. He added that demand and enquiries continue.

Alok Roy, chair, FICCI (health services committee), and chairman, Medica Group, said that fear of infection is not what is keeping the medical tourists from coming to India. Things will pick up once air travel normalises. Unfortunately,the International Air Transport Association (IATA) projected that the passenger traffic is unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels until 2024.

The industry has thus started to work on SOPs to ensure a safe passage of medical tourists to the country and discussions are on with the government.

Arun Sangwan , co-founder of the Medical Travel Representatives Association (METRA), a non-profit organisation that works in the interest of the medical tourism companies, felt that one needed to have a five dimensional plan in place as we start to open for patients from various countries. “Our protocols and plans need to be in place for flawless and safe handling of patients in our country. However,all this will surely increase the total cost of treatment in India as compared to pre covid-19,” he said.