Coimbatore :
City hospitals, that have been striving to make Coimbatore a popular medical tourism destination, are a helpless lot, since there is nothing they can do to improve air connectivity, a major criteria in promoting such tourism. Coimbatore has carved a niche for itself in providing speciality medical care and expertise. However, unless the government works towards improving the city’s air connectivity, marketing such services would prove futile.
Dr. S Rajasekaran, director, Ganga Hospital, says there is a huge gap between the city’s potential and actual performance. “In 2012, we treated more than 100 international patients, all of them referred to us by surgeons outside India,” he said. Though this is encouraging much has to be done to tap real potential. Pointing out that without direct air connectivity it is difficult to position Coimbatore as the medical tourism destination, he stressed the need for aggressive marketing in the international arena. For now, most international patients fly to Chennai and take a connecting flight to Coimbatore.
In Coimbatore, Ganga Hospital, Kovai Medical Center adn Hospital (KMCH), KG Hospital and Gem Hospital are among the top centres to promote medical tourism. Doctors also suggest that apart from accessibility, the city’s visibility as a medical tourism destination needs to be improved. “The presence of specialty hospitals, availability of personalised service and cost effectiveness (about 30 to 40 pc less) are our strengths and inadequate marketing is our minus,” Dr.Rajasekaran added. Few hospitals like Ganga Hospital and KG Hospital have even created a separate page on their websites to promote medical tourism.
Another private hospital that has gone a step further to promote medical tourism and has even created relationship centres abroad to attract international patients, is KMCH. “Most of our international patients are from Middle East and African countries and so we have created such centres in Dubai, Muscat, Oman, Ghana and Guinea,” said Dr. Nalla G Palaniswami, chairman, KMCH.
Despite the glaring disadvantages like lack of direct flight connectivity, hospitals in Coimbatore have managed to attract a flow of foreign patients on a regular basis by banking on its strengths. However, to get to the next level, improved air connectivity is a must.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Coimbatore / by S M Arun, TNN / March 05th, 2013
