Why Nagpur is ideal for medical tourism?

• Though the city is still far away from being on the medical tourism map of country, it is already poised to take off due to its central location, affordable costs, skilled doctors and state of art infrastructure.
  Thanks to ongoing projects like MIHAAN & CARGO due to which Nagpur will be a prominent city in Global map and also Nagpur shows bright future in Medical Tourism due to increased traffic of international business class tourist to Nagpur as a testimonial one can question why Government has sanctioned 75 five star hotels in Nagpur.
  Why Dhantoli is ideal for medical tourism? Dhantoli is the Medical Hub of the Nagpur city, all well trained paramedical staffs are available, all the 5 star hotels are in the vicinity of in 3km.Distance from International Airport, Nagpur is just 3km and no traffic jam in the city in compare to other metro cities. Easy access to consultants and super specialist consultants.

  Today, India is in a position to offer the best in term of both the quality and pricing. Cities like Mumbai and Delhi which have big corporate hospitals, suffer from a disadvantage. They are costly due to over rate, the costly hospitality industry and longer transit time from airport to hospital and not being very safe for foreigners.

• In view of this draw backs, it is non metro cities like Nagpur that can seize the opportunity. Cardiac surgery, kidney and other transplants are some of the key functions that Indian doctors are trusted with. The facilities here are as a good International standards and the cost is very reasonable too.
  Some of the other medicinal systems that India boasts of are homoeopathy, panchkarma and neuropathy. What is required is to streamline these different medicinal branches and drive benefits from their uses for us and for the visitors from abroad. There is a lot of scope for medical tourism. We have an aggressively market it and attract more and more tourist for this purpose. For this, medical tourism should be made an integral part of India’s tourism policy.

  
  
• Medical tourism is no more a new phenomenon for Indian Hospitals. Indian medical tribe has etched out a venerable position on the global map. There are various reasons why India is an ideal destination for medical tourism. Hospitals in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad are already focussing on global customers (patients). Besides medical expertise, economical pricing works out to be a major influencing factor that tilts the scales in favour of Indian Hospitals. Its not only the medical expertise but also the Indian para-medical strength that helps the cause further.

  But the scenario is not as hunky dory as one would like to believe. I know of a Canadian entrepreneur who wanted to come to India to get liposuction done but after considering various factors, he chose Phillipines over India and on his way back to Canada, he did visit Nagpur though for some different business purpose. One of the leading hospitals in Nagpur quoted a higher pricing to him. I know this for sure because I had tried to help him in finding the hospital then. So, Indian hospitals have to wake up to the fact that they are not competing with hospitals in developed countries on the price front. They have to be price competitive with some of our Asian partners.
  Another point is that Doctors in Nagpur are not yet pro-active. They still underestimate the importance of marketing in medical tourism. Frankly, how many corporate hospitals have an annual allocation for marketing? They tend to forget that marketing is an investment, not an expenditure.
  Indian Corporate Hospitals need to appoint ambassadors in various developed countries who know the local (foreign country) medical legislation, health benefits and government policies very well. For instance, in Canada, at times, it could take upto 6 months to get onto the operating table! since the tab is all taken care of by the government and there is an acute shortage of para-medical or nursing staff.
  Nagpur is an ideal location for medical tourism. A perspicuous business mind will club the eco tourism along with medical tourism since the customer is more often than not, accopanied by his family or relatives who would like to cherish the wild-life around Nagpur during the post-operative recuperation. Why can't anybody publicise to global customers that Nagpur is one metro where one can leave in the afternoon, go hardly 90 kms, see a tiger and come back for dinner. All within half a day. Trust me, I have experienced this, thanks to Pench reserve forest. Now, it is a foregone coclusion that the foreigners are avid fans of the rich flaura and fauna that India has to offer. So, leave aside the airport proximity advantage, this is one unique experience that only Nagpur can offer.
  Rather than trying to sell what we have, it is advisable to focus on the needs of the customers. So, it still remains a fact that, if properly tapped, countless customers would come to Nagpur for cosmetic surgeries and ortho-dentistry.
  I wouldn't advise selling panchakarma etc. unless we can devise some world class health spa. I know my friend, Dr. Sunil Joshi has almost more than half of his patients coming from abroad for a residential treatment in ayurveda, but then he himself spends half his time abroad, runs an Ayurveda clinic in the US and also visits South Africa to deliver lectures on Ayurveda. Unless somebody has that kind of continual presence abroad, selling Nagpur to Ayurveda customers would be an unhealthy proposition especially we would have to compete with the much touted Kerala for Ayurvedic treatments.
  All said and done, medical tourism is the order of the day and Nagpur can definitely benefit out of the proposition with a well orchestrate

  

  d effort.