Centre to reveal digital portal for medical value travel: Minister
Saturday, 26 April 2025, 10:25 IST
The Central government is developing a comprehensive online portal designed to enhance India's status as a global healthcare destination, according to Prataprao Jadhav, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ayush and Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare. Speaking at the FICCI’s Medical Value Travel (MVT) conference, Jadhav explained that the new digital platform will consolidate various services, including hospitals, facilitators, travel agents, hotels, translators, and other support services, into a single accessible location.
The effort is intended to enhance the patient experience in totality, ranging from the treatment itself to transportation and after-treatment follow-up. The government also wants to take the healthcare ecosystem outside the big cities into tier-2 and tier-3 towns.
In addition, the government is also trying to consolidate collaboration with private sector entities to enhance services along the medical value travel process. NITI Aayog member Prof. Vinod K. Paul underlined the significance of deregulation within the industry and urged industry stakeholders to share suggestions on alleviating compliance burdens on healthcare facilities. He pointed to the importance of visa facilitation in encouraging medical value travel, emphasizing the importance of transparency and trust among nations.
As far as telemedicine is concerned, Paul mentioned the legality issues involved in providing remote consultations to patients across other nations and called on India to take a leadership position to solve these issues since it is experienced in this area.
India's MVT industry was worth $7.69 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $14.31 billion by the year 2029, with an 18% market share and 10th position in the MVT index. The new digital portal will immensely improve international patients' healthcare services and propagate India's assorted medical services across the world. Medical value travel, or medical tourism, is where patients travel overseas for healthcare services due to the need for high-quality care at reduced costs, shorter waiting periods, and access to specialized treatments unavailable in their native countries.
The effort is intended to enhance the patient experience in totality, ranging from the treatment itself to transportation and after-treatment follow-up. The government also wants to take the healthcare ecosystem outside the big cities into tier-2 and tier-3 towns.
In addition, the government is also trying to consolidate collaboration with private sector entities to enhance services along the medical value travel process. NITI Aayog member Prof. Vinod K. Paul underlined the significance of deregulation within the industry and urged industry stakeholders to share suggestions on alleviating compliance burdens on healthcare facilities. He pointed to the importance of visa facilitation in encouraging medical value travel, emphasizing the importance of transparency and trust among nations.
As far as telemedicine is concerned, Paul mentioned the legality issues involved in providing remote consultations to patients across other nations and called on India to take a leadership position to solve these issues since it is experienced in this area.
India's MVT industry was worth $7.69 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $14.31 billion by the year 2029, with an 18% market share and 10th position in the MVT index. The new digital portal will immensely improve international patients' healthcare services and propagate India's assorted medical services across the world. Medical value travel, or medical tourism, is where patients travel overseas for healthcare services due to the need for high-quality care at reduced costs, shorter waiting periods, and access to specialized treatments unavailable in their native countries.
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