Why India Is Africa's Medical Mecca?



In June 2013, Research and Markets predicted that the Indian medical tourism industry would schedule a Compounded Yearly Growth Rate of more than 20% between the year 2013 and 2016.

The article, titled “Why India is Africa's Medical Mecca?” specified that “India had managed to match up with the quality of medical healthcare services that are being given in developed countries”, and that 'highly qualified medical staff, promotion of advanced technology and improving healthcare infrastructure' had made the country an attractive terminus for patients all over the world."
This high-quality service is among the reasons India today is a well-liked medical station. Not just for countries in the third world, but also for super economies like the US American Medical huge partner Global Healthcare, for instance, has 25 sanctioned hospitals in 12 countries under its wing and India sits proudly at the top on the list with seven Companion hospitals.

To make medical treatment procedure in India more comfortable to proud Americans, Companion gives its patients an 80% discount in health care charges for services obtained in its hospitals in India which would cost around $100,000 in the US and costs only $7,200 in India.

For Africa, this is more than just a figure to ignore. That is why a report by A&K Global Health uncover that of all the people in Africa who travel abroad looking for medical help, 95% go to Asia; only 4% go to Europe and a paltry 1% to the Americas. Most of those who go to Asia ultimately end up in India. This global reality is considered in Kenya. While there are other Asian countries like Thailand and Malaysia that provides competitive medical rates, India remains Kenya’s ‘medical mecca’ of choice. About 60% of Kenyans who travel for medical care opt to go to India, with South Africa coming in its way second with just 15%.

It is because India is recognized to give the best care at the most affordable prices. Also, most insurance companies do not offer cover against chronic illnesses like cancer, which would make it very costly to receive care locally. It forces patients to look for medical treatment elsewhere.

So big is this medical tourism that it has to lead to related businesses due to the sheer numbers looking for medical care outside their countries. Most of the patients need a level of care that is unavailable in the country, and so medical tourism companies like IndianMedTrip Healthcare Consultants connects them with hospitals in India, schedules appointments for them with associated doctors/surgeons, arranges their itinerary and their medical visas and also looks after other aspects of their stay in India such as airport pickup/drop, language translators, accommodation and food, to name a few.