Health tourism

·         On April 2, 2008 Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia released report of Planning Commission revealing that "Indian corporate hospitals are well equipped, proficient and could measure up to or even outshine any hospital in the West, making the nation an attractive destination for health tourism"

 But the report said the main impediment for medical tourists coming from Britain and the US for major surgeries was that the insurance companies were not willing to cover treatment in India.

·         It is estimated that in 2002 as many as 150,000 medical tourists travelled to India, bringing in earnings of $300 million.

·         Quoting the Confederation of Indian Industry-McKinsey report of 2002, it said projections suggested the figure would go up to $2 billion by 2012.

·         The report said while a heart bypass surgery would cost a patient $6,000 in India, the same surgery would cost the person $7,894 in Thailand, $10,417 in Singapore, $23,938 in the US and $19,700 in Britain.

·         A cosmetic surgery would cost $3,500 in Thailand, $20,000 in the US and $10,000 in Britain. But the same surgery would cost only $2,000 in India

·          Praising Kerala, the report said: "The unique position that Kerala enjoys with respect to Ayurveda is due to the fact that the treatment in the state has proved effective in dealing with certain diseases, which are incurable by other systems."