Medical tourism: An upcoming concept of tourism

INDIA, FOR the past five years has been creating milestones in every field; may it be IT or art. This vast country has spots that encourage tourism and therefore, eco-tourism came into being. This concept of tourism is now used in the medical field – medical tourism as we call it. India is said to be the best spot for this enthralling industry. Quick revenue is earned along with credibility. More and more hospitals and doctors are entering the field in order to keep up with the high competition in the medical field. But there is one section in our country that is completely ignored when we talk about the medical tourism context – the rural population.

More than 60 per cent of India’s population lives in the rural areas– this is a large chunk of the population that needs to be taken care of as they work quite a bit towards the development of our country. This land is primarily agrarian. It is this 60 per cent and above that takes care of the agriculture sector. There is no way our land will turn into a tertiary sector centric country. It is going to take some time for us to get there. Till then, it is the primary sector that will be keeping us on the safer side.

Medical tourism on one hand, is growing at a fast pace therefore, making medical facilities more expensive. There are various packages available for people coming from abroad for major treatments. On the other hand, we have the rural crowd who do not have access to it or cannot afford the treatment given by these well to do hospitals. Accessibility in terms of the distance and in terms of the cost is what we are concerned with. A sector that takes extra care of the people coming from other countries, pays very less or no attention to the population that belongs to their own land.

When one who lives in a city gets a heart attack in the middle of the night, he/she is rushed to the hospital immediately. Whereas, when an old man in a remote village gets an attack, he has to die a painful death immediately. There are reasons why –

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The public health centre (PHC) does not function at night.
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The PHC does not have doctors but has untrained nurses
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The doctor rarely visits the village.
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The town hospital is far away

This is the exact condition of people living in different parts of India. Many of us choose not to think or talk about it as we all are comfortable and happy or we are completely ignorant of such atrocities happening to our own fellow human beings. It is only when you go on-field and observe these things we understand the intricacies of the issue.

Although different districts around the country are provided with these PHCs, but, like I mentioned earlier, doctors hardly visit these places. When doctors were advised to go through a village exposure programme for a year after their five year course, most of them disagree to do so.

Healthcare for the urban is on a roll. However, the ones who cannot afford it are left unattended to. This unfortunately is a black mark in a developing country’s profile.