British Deputy High Commissioner Mike Nithavrianakis addresses the international conference and exhibition on health tourism in Chennai on Friday. — DC
Chennai , India :
Tamil Nadu ranks third in health tourism destination after Delhi and Mumbai attracting around 6.65 lakh medical tourists every year. The medical infrastructure in the state has been making remarkable strides to include increasing number of multi-specialty hospitals with state-of the art infrastructure and finest specialists certified to international standards, said Narayan Sethuramon, chairman of CII Tamil Nadu.
He said over 50 countries have declared medical tourism as a national industry at the inauguration of Tamil Nadu Health Tourism-2013, a two-day international conference and exhibition on health tourism, on Friday.
According to a recent report by the market research firm RNCOS, medical tourism is the fastest growing segment of India’s tourism sector. “India has 98.7 per cent success rate for coronary bypass compared to the US that has 97.5 per cent,” said Mr. Sethuramon.
Speaking on the occasion, British Deputy High Commissioner Mike Nithavrianakis said the UK was focusing its healthcare attention on India, especially Tamil Nadu. “More Indian doctors are now returning from the UK in the mid career as 10 to 15 years ago they used to return at the end of their career,” said the high commissioner, stressing on the relationship between the UK and India on sharing expertise, education and research.
Dr Srinidhi Chidambaram, vice-president of Apollo Hospitals Group, said the state was one of the most preferred when it came to health tourism. “Tamil Nadu has been providing excellent medical facilitates. Apart from 3Cs — Care, clinical excellence and cost factor — we have another C- Collaboration,” said Srinidhi, adding that other industries such as airport and tourism too should work together to make the country and the state more attractive place for health tourism.
Dr S. Chandrakumar, managing director of Kauvery Hospital, and Dr S. Gurushankar, vice-chairman of Meenakshi Mission Hospital, also spoke on the occasion. Over 40 companies are participating in the international exhibition and hospitals have put up stalls explaining their specialties at Chennai Trade Centre.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / April 20th, 2013
