Boasting beautiful beaches and a relaxing atmosphere, beloved tourist destination Goa, located along India's West Coast, is the ideal setting to both clear one's mind prior to surgery and recover afterward. And it appears that medical officials and the local government agree.
According to the Indo-Asian News Service, Goa's potential future as an top medical tourism destination is bright.
With solid infrastructure already in place and a strong hospitality industry presence, the building blocks are clearly in place, as Manipal Health Enterprises CEO and managing director Ajay Bakshi points out via the IANS: "We want to bring medical tourism to Goa because we believe that infrastructure here is good," said Bakshi. "We want to bring international patients here because they should not have to go to polluted and crowded cities."
"Medical tourism is 50 percent about medical facilities. The other factors which make it work are the ease of getting a visa, honesty of the local population and the climate, among others," added Bakshi. "We are putting in place a coalition of partners to boost medical tourism, of which the hospitality industry is a major partner. They are already taking care of one factor, we will take care of the medical part."
Medical tourism is a relatively new but fast emerging concept.
According to a study conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry via IANS, more than three million foreign visitors are expected to travel to India for medical procedures by the end of 2015.
Given those figures, it's no wonder Goa, which attracts about 500,000 foreigners annually, appears to be embracing medical tourism.
"While medical tourism is growing in Goa, the government is keen to attract investments in new facilities and draw more medical tourists for high-end and complicated procedures," stated last year's Goa Investment Policy via IANS. "For medical tourism to take off in a big way, uniformity and quality of services offered are critical."
With Goa offering medical tourists cleaner conditions, fewer crowds and more sound infrastructure, it seems additional facilities and quality medical personnel are all that's left to secure in order to make it a premier medical tourism destination.
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