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Abstract
The advent of quality medical treatment and innovative technology which can cure diseases, that were formerly incurable, resulted in patients travelling beyond the boundaries of their homeland, which has led to the development of a novel tourism segment known as “Medical Tourism”. The last three decades witnessed large scale movement of patients from developed countries to Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and India for their medical treatment. But India’s Medical Tourist Arrivals (MTA) are relatively lower when compared to our neighbours. Indian Medical Tourism market is expected to grow exponentially to US$ 7-8 billion by 2020. If tapped to the fullest, Medical Tourism can be a prescription for many of the ailments that mar the growth of tourism in our country. Medical tourism will translate India to all season, 365 day destination irrespective of the season–offseason divide and insulate it from the catastrophe of global economic meltdown and recession. Through this paper an attempt is made to examine the pertinent issues that plague the growth of this segment and the seamless opportunities and openings for transforming India as “the most affordable quality medical tourism destination of the globe.”