Kerala sees 40 per cent rise in medical tourists : CII

Kochi, Mar 19 (UNI) Kerala has witnessed an increase of about 40 per cent in the number of overseas medical tourists last year and the state is becoming a prominent destination for medical tourism in the country, the CII said today.

Addressing a press conference here to announce the 'Kerala Health Tourism Summit 2007', CII Kerala Council president Navas Meeran said that 15,000 medical tourists visited the state last year.

''The CII and the state tourism department are pooling their resources to make Kerala one of the top five global destinations for medical tourism,'' he added.

Dr Philip Augustine, CEO, Lakeshore Hospital, said the state's target was to attract 100,000 medical tourists to Kerala by 2010.

Announcing the 'Kerala Health Tourism Summit 2007' (KHT2007), Dr Augustine said this would be formally inaugurated by Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni here on March 24. Kerala home affairs and tourism minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan would preside over the function. Union Tourism Secretary A K Mishra and other senior officials would also attend it.

About 800 delegates, including several from the US, Europe, Canada and the Middle-East, were expected to attend the four-day meet. The foreign delegates would include representatives of insurance companies besides doctors and tour operators.

He said a special attraction at the KHT2007 would be three separate focus pavilions on 'Allopathy', 'Dental Health' and 'Ayurveda'.

Dr K Anil Kumar, Executive Director, Kerala Ayurveda Pharmacy Ltd. (KAPL), said that the focus of the Ayurveda section would be on the curative aspect of the traditional health system. ''While people generally about the rejuvenative and preventive aspects of Ayurveda, they do not know about the effective treatments available for chronic ailments. We will like to give a true picture about Ayurveda to the global market,'' he added.

Mr Meeran said as per official estimates the average spending of a medical tourist was expected to be about Rs 500,000.

Dr Augustine said the state received about 15,000 patients from the Middle-East, Maldives, the US, the UK and some African countries last year. They came mainly for dental treatment, cosmetic surgery, cardiac packages and joint replacements.

He said two hospitals in the state -- the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences and the Malabar Institute of Medicals Sciences -- had so far received the quality certification of the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH).

Others who attended the press conference were Mr P V Antony, Managing Director, Medical Trust Hospital, Mr Sudhakar Jayaram, General Manager, Administration, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr C Rajkrishnan, CEO, Dr Rajkrishnan's Dental Clinic, and Dr Roshan George, CEO, Roshan Eye Care Hospital.

UNI