Mention Goa and one automatically associates tourism with it. Beaches and cheap alcohol come to mind. However with the tourism season not meeting expectations, perhaps it is time to ask if the state government is looking at alternatives to ensure that there is not a precipitous drop in revenue earnings. Medical tourism is a platform that is bringing in tens of thousands of dollars into the coffers of states like Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Can Goa be considered a possible destination for tourists interested in receiving world class medical assistance considerably cheaper to what is available back home?
Dr. D B Bhandare, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Manipal Goa Hospital and Heading the Medical committee at the GCCI felt the reality on the ground was not very comforting. He said presently there were a trickle of patients from African, CIS countries and Arab countries. People he said were working on it. Goa, he said lacked basic infrastructure which worked against it. The problems of sanitation and the handling of garbage, he said was well documented. The attitude of “not in my backyard” was not helping he said.
Goa still faced problems from vector borne diseases which would dissuade already sick people from coming to Goa. Cases of malaria, dengue and chickengunea in Goa had in the past been in the local and national news. More importantly there were possibly one or two hospitals that had the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) which he felt was very important. Bhandare said “People have to understand it is a business and that not just the hospital but everything around it has to be taken care of.”
The GCCI he said had given innumerable recommendations to various governments but nothing has been done. All the government needs to do is to give freedom, encouragement and space to the private sector to create the facilities and attract new business. Hospitals have to be standardised, private nursing homes have to be accredited and the government has to categorise them as per standards. The Clinical Establishment Act which was pending would certainly help change the present situation.
The man at the centre of managing tourism infrastructure in the state, Nikhil Desai MD of Goa Tourism Development Corporation felt that there is a lot of ground to cover to make Goa a medical tourism destination. He said the tourism industry was handled largely by private operators who brought in the tourists. The department had worked with Manipal Hospital in the past and the results were quite encouraging. The centres of medical tourism in the country he said were in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi. Usually he said tourist spots noted for their beauty and which promoted the sun and sand to generate interests amongst tourist were not destinations for medical tourism. The volumes presently for medical tourism were just not there and perhaps in time it would change. He commended the civic sense of the average Goan and said Goa was cleaner that most places in the country and a collective effort would be needed to ensure more medical tourists came to Goa. In the proposed master plan he said medical tourism played an important role and perhaps countries in Africa could be target area given that for Africa, India was a step above.
A place in Goa that had however made a success stop over for medical tourists is the Devaaya Ayurveda Nature Cure Centre on the Divar island run by the Alcon group. Victor Albuquerque said the group was doing it bit to promote medical tourism. Victor said “We are trying our best to promote ayurveda and naturopathy, from November to April the entire resort is full of Germans, Italians and Swiss nationals. We have packages ranging from 7, 10 to 35 days. It is a complete regimen that they follow and we have a large number of people who return every year.” Medical tourism he felt called for a high level of hygiene. The group he said intended to look aggressively for more business and intended to promote Apollo Victor Hospital in places like Dubai and Nigeria. A representative office would be set up in these places. Nigeria, he said did not have a proper medical system and there was a tiny but filthy rich minority who would be interested in his facilities. At present he said 5% of his clientele were foreign and he was very keen on increasing this.
According to studies published India is expected to earn approximately $ 8 Billion by 2020 due to medical tourism. According to a CII-Grant Thornton report released last year it is presently pegged at $3 billion. Even if Goa earns just one percent of that very large number business would be booming.
