TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Goa Chamber for Commerce and Industry has urged Goa government to prop Medical Tourism as an industry and draw up a road map for its development through charters and free independent travellers.
GCCI President Manguirish Pai Raikar said, “Goa has a good number of health care providers, who like the hoteliers, can get together to tap international markets for the purpose of medical tourism.”
The industry strongly believes that the government draft a plan by taking all stakeholders into confidence. Tourists from East Europe, Gulf and African countries could be the target groups and facilities such as cosmetic surgery, joint replacements, cardiac procedures, eye surgeries, medical check up packages and rehabilitation of patients requiring long term treatment could be offered to these groups according to Dr Deep Bhandare.
Giving some inputs himself Raikar flagged three issues that needs to be dealt with before medical tourism is promoted by Goa ~ registration of all nursing homes/hospitals who wish to be a part of this medical tourism industry; bringing all facilities under one roof by registered hospitals and nursing homes; and getting accreditation from National Health Board-UK which is a pre-requisite for medical tourism especially as tourists have medi-claim.
Raikar also said that once registered and accredited, all hospitals and nursing homes/ clinics would need to have tariff cards of their fees, charges etc.
It was also mooted that the Medical Council of India could have a regulatory body in Goa to check all unscrupulous elements working against the interests of genuine medical practitioners, a problem that is predominant in coastal areas.
Raikar said that there are several destinations abroad who don’t have adequate medical facilities and experts here in Goa are in the process of identify those destinations and tapping those markets.
“Charters can actually bring in such kind of tourists and Goa’s medical institutions both government and private can have tie ups to tap their clientele.”
Presently Goa has a large number of hospitals both private and government having top medical facilities, but this segment regrets that Goa is still lagging behind in promoting the State for medical tourism. The number of tourists coming especially for treatment and recuperation is less.
It was decided to form a committee comprising Dr Deep Bhandare and representatives of private hospitals and private nursing homes to pursue the enactment of a regulatory bill and to liaise with the government and Tourism department to chart a roadmap for development of medical tourism in the State.
Dr V Jindal, Dean of Goa Medical College said, “Indeed Goa has a great potential for medical tourism. This sector can take off in a big way, provided certain measures are put in place.”
Dr Jindal however said that government hospitals may not be in a position to be a part of medical tourism. “Even though we have the best of facilities we have a big strain in catering to the general public,” he said.
Dr Deep Bhandare said, “Goa has adequate facilities in terms of infrastructure and medical professionals. In addition, we score over others for the easy availability of medical services without a waiting list and facilities at reasonable costs.”
He also said that Goa has another plus since the state has good connectivity by air.
