What is medical tourism ans why it is increasing day by day
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Medical tourism is a growing sector in India. In October 2015, India's medical tourism sector was estimated to be worth US$3 billion. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 200% by 2020, hitting $9 billion by 2020. In 2017, 495,056 patients visited India to seek medical care. The top 10 source countries for patients were Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iraq, Maldives, Oman, Yemen, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.
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What is Medical Tourism?
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Dr. Tomislav Meštrović, MD, Ph.D.
By Dr. Tomislav Meštrović, MD, Ph.D.
Medical tourism can be defined as the process of traveling outside the country of residence for the purpose of receiving medical care. Growth in the popularity of medical tourism has captured the attention of policy-makers, researchers and the media. Originally, the term referred to the travel of patients from less-developed countries to developed nations in pursuit of the treatments not available in their homeland.
Today we are experiencing both qualitative and quantitative shifts in patient mobility, as people travel from richer to less-developed countries in order to access health services. Such shift is mostly driven by the relative low-cost of treatments in less developed nations, the availability of inexpensive flights and increased marketing and online consumer information about the availability of medical services.