KOCHI: Ernakulam is once again emerging as the largest destination for medical tourism in the state. There was a 75-80% drop in arrival of foreign patients during the initial two years of Covid-19 pandemic.
Medical tourists contribute to 10% of the total hospital admissions and procedures and 25-30% of the earnings in most of the major hospitals in Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. Hospital managements said that they have the capacity and facility to increase in-patient admission to 20% from 10%.
“Hospitals in Ernakulam are now doing extremely well in medical tourism and are back to pre-Covid times. However, in Thiruvananthapuram, the movement has been slow and we have only been able to recover 3% to 5% of the business,” said Dr M I Sahadulla, chairman and managing director, KIMS Healthcare Group and president, Association of Healthcare Providers India (Kerala chapter).
“The recovery has been good and we are seeing patients, especially from Gulf countries and Africa, coming here for treatment. The numbers are expected to increase further in June,” said Farhan Yasin, Kerala Cluster & Oman regional director, Aster DM Healthcare. There are also a few patients from South East Asia, Africa, Afghanistan and Yemen. However, post-Covid hardly any European national is coming for treatment in the city.
For hospitals here, the path of recovery has been made possible with innovations and change in strategy to attract medical tourists. From aggressive marketing to searching for new patients in countries that earlier didn’t have people coming here for treatment to offering discounts and hospital as well hospitality experience, the hospitals in Kochi are doing everything possible to attract more foreign patients, especially from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Nepal too. Some hospitals are also doing free procedures to patients from select countries in certain specialties to gain attention and attract more patients from the country.
Hospitals like VPS Lakeshore have gone a step ahead and they have set up an office to facilitate not just the hospital stay and treatment but also stay in the hotel for patient and family as well as travel within the state during the course of treatment at discounted rates. In other words, the hospital plans their treatment, accommodation and travel too. This ensures that their overall experience and stay here is memorable.
However, the ride is not easy. There are some foreign patients who, instead of coming for treatment on e-medical visa, reach Kochi on tourist visa and then seek elective procedure. “About 25% to 30% such patients have to be refused admission or they have to wait until they get a revised medical visa,” said a hospital management official.
Moreover, as uncertainty about the pandemic continues, there is a growing demand that just like in tourism, even in medical tourism, the city hospitals should focus on attracting domestic patients and NRIs. “Things start at home. Our focus is to first attract domestic patients and then patients from abroad. Though patients fundamentally come for allopathy, they have interest in ayurveda too and we have a facility to offer integrated treatment,” said Dr Ajoy Menon, senior medical administrator, Amrita Hospital.
