Dr. Mahesh Sharma Chairs First Meeting of National Medical & Wellness Tourism Promotion Board
Dr. Mahesh Sharma Chairs First Meeting of National
Medical & Wellness Tourism Promotion Board
First meeting of “National
Medical & Wellness Tourism Promotion Board” was held under the
Chairmanship of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism &
Culture & Civil Aviation here today. Key members, including
representatives of well known hospital chains, other stakeholders and the
representatives of related Government Departments, Tourism & Hospitality
sectors and experts in various disciplines including Wellness and Yoga
participated in the meeting. The list of the Members of the Board is given
below for ready reference.
Dr. Mahesh Sharma, the Chairman of the Board and
the Minister for Tourism announced that Three Sub-Committees would be
constituted immediately to look into the issues such as Regulatory;
Accreditation and Marketing. He mentioned about the role of Government as a
facilitator and that the private sector has to continue to lead the medical and
wellness tourism sector. The Board will function in an effective, responsible,
and time bound manner to find solutions for immediate concerns in the efforts
of health and tourism sector.He added that India’s competitive advantage, which
lies in a large pool of well trained medical professionals, and its cost
competitiveness compared to other countries, will certainly take this niche
segment of tourism to its greater height.
The Board plans to build up a Data Bank
of available resources in the field of Medical and Wellness services in the
country and to develop mechanism to disseminate such information to the source
markets.
The Board observed that the healthcare delivery
system in the country has improved and there are several positive factors in
our healthcare system due to which several countries now look East,
particularly India because of the quality offered at affordable cost. However,
it was pointed out that a system needs to be devised to iron out the unevenness
in the delivery system. It was reiterated by the members that more accredited
hospitals, easy visa regime and providing linkages between service providers
and the end user is the need of the hour to develop, promote and market India
as a Medical & Wellness Tourism
hub.
The Board decided to have a single responsible body
which is visible, accessible and through which the various medical systems
which are interconnected can be reached by all. The Board unanimously agreed
that a dedicated and sustained campaign on Medical & Wellness Tourism in
the source markets will result in substantially enhance medical tourist
arrivals to the country which can be led only by Government interventions. It
also agreed on integrating the services under Ayurveda, Yoga and other systems.
The Government needs to address the issue of sensitization of service
providers, particularly in the field of Wellness & Ayurveda.
Healthcare and wellness has become one of the
largest sectors of India - both in terms of revenue and employment comprising
hospitals, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, wellness, health
insurance and medical tourism, health insurance etc. The Indian healthcare
sector is growing at a brisk pace due to its cost effectiveness, strengthening
coverage, services and increasing expenditure by public as well private
players. With healthcare cost in developed countries increasing, cost
consciousness among patients seeking treatment and availability of accredited
facilities has given rise to many global medical tourism corridors. Among
these, India is one of the countries which have a large number of accredited
facilities.
Realising the importance of this and to
provide dedicated institutional framework to take forward the cause of
promotion of Medical and wellness Tourism, Ministry of Tourism, Government
of India has constituted a Medical and Wellness Tourism Board. This
Board will provide leadership of the Government within a framework of
prudent and effective measures, thereby enabling promotion and positioning of
India as a competent and credible medical and wellness tourism destination.
The Key Members of the Board include:-
|
S. No.
|
Name
|
Organization
|
Affiliation
|
|
1.
|
Dr. Mahesh Sharma
|
Minister of State for
Tourism
|
Chairman
|
|
2.
|
Shri Vinod Zutshi
|
Secretary, Ministry of
Tourism
|
Vice Chairman
|
|
3.
|
Shri Sanjeev Ranjan
|
Addl. Secretaqry &
FA, M/o Tourism
|
Member
|
|
4.
|
Shri Suman Billa
|
Joint Secretary, M/o
Tourism
|
Member
|
|
5.
|
Shri Jitendra Sharma
|
Joint Secretary,M/o AYUSH
|
Member
|
|
6.
|
Dr. B.K. Rana,
Deputy Director
|
Secretary General Quality
Council of India
|
Member
|
|
7.
|
Dr. K.K. Kalra
|
CEO, NABHHS
|
Member
|
|
8.
|
Shri Subhash Goyal,
President
|
Tour Operators Promotion Medical Tourism,
IATO
|
Member
|
|
9.
|
Shri Vikram Oberoi,
President
|
HAI
|
Member
|
|
10.
|
Shri Bharat Malkani,
President
|
FHRAI
|
Member
|
|
11.
|
Dr. S. S. Aggarwal,
Chairman
|
IMA
|
Member
|
|
12.
|
Dr. K. K. Aggarwal
|
IMA
|
Member
|
|
13.
|
Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty
|
Narayana Health Cardiac Surgeon
|
Member
|
|
14.
|
Dr. Naresh Trehan
|
Medanta Group
|
Member
|
|
15.
|
Ms. Sangeeta Reddy,
Jt. MD
|
Apollo Hospitals Group
|
Member
|
|
16.
|
Dr. H.R. Nagendra,
ME, PhD
|
Vice Chancellor
S-Vyas, Vivekananda Yoga Aushthan Sanstha
|
Member
|
|
17.
|
Yog
Guru Ramdev ji & Acharya Balkrishan ji
|
MD, Patanjali Ayurveda Kendra
|
Member
|
|
18.
|
Shri Nagaraj Naidu,
Director
|
Director, ITP Ministry of External Affairs
|
Member
|
|
19.
|
Shri Rajit Mehta,
|
MD & CEO Max Super Specialty Hospital
|
Member
|
|
20.
|
Shri Praveen Kumar Mittal Additional
Director/President
|
FICCI
|
Member
|
|
21.
|
Shri Yogesh Srivastav,
Director/President
|
PHDCCI
|
Member
|
|
22.
|
Shri Sumit Mazumder,
President
|
CII
|
Member
|
|
23.
|
Shri Jatin Walia,
President
|
President Association of Wellness, Ayurveda
& SPA
|
Member
|
|
24.
|
Dr. P Madhavankutty Varrier
|
Kotakkal AryaVaidyashala, Kerala
|
Member
|
|
25.
|
Shri Bhavdeep Singh
|
CEO,Fortis
Healthcare
|
Member
|
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