FROM THE UNSUNG Indian nurses in hospitals abroad to doctors treating overseas patients at facilities in India, the country has been marking its place on the global healthcare map. The Government has joined hands with the healthcare industry to project India as a reliable medical destination. Last month, Indian missions abroad were encouraged to issue medical visas to foreigners seeking treatment in India. Apart from accelerating the visa procedure for the patients, the medical visa is for one year compared to the usual six-month permit. But the Government must be wary of pitfalls that are more than just perception issues.

Besides simplifying the process to offer treatment, the Government and industry will have to tackle the global patient's concern on several counts. Security issues, confidentiality of information, quality of treatment, price issues, continuity of care, and support and counselling services to educate patients — all need to be addressed in a transparent manner. Healthcare providers will have to ensure that patients are treated well, not just today but tomorrow as well. Care should be taken to ensure that overseas patients do not get hijacked by unscrupulous elements that may seek to exploit the new trend. Treatment gone awry can lead to a medical controversy that Indian professionals can ill afford at a time when confidentiality issues are being raised against data outsourced to India.

The Quality Council of India is drafting norms for accreditation of hospitals. The challenge is in pegging these norms to international standards. And the question is whether accreditation will be mandatory. Large hospitals will go for such an endorsement, as health insurance providers will not pay without being convinced of a facility's credentials. But will the smaller ones do so voluntarily? The Health, Tourism, Aviation, and External Affairs Departments should also work seamlessly to optimise the time and the money overseas patients need to spend in India. Indian healthcare services come at about a fifth of the cost in the United Kingdom and one-tenth that in the Untied States. But the cost of treatment and the associated charges must be transparent to prospective patients.

A CII-McKinsey prognosis for medical tourism is that it would be worth Rs 10,000 crore by 2012. But merely including medical tourism in the `Incredible India' campaign abroad may not attract global patients. Having successfully tackled SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), Singapore is aggressively marketing its hospitals abroad promising quality, hygiene and price. Hospitals in Thailand too are taking international accreditation to lure overseas patients. Foreigners looking to leap-frog over long waiting-lists at hospitals in their countries will seek such proactive confidence boosters when they evaluate medical options in the Asian region. India must do its best to stay in the reckoning.

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