Why India is a lifeline for medical tourists

Why do large private hospitals in India track global oil prices and regime changes around the world? As the preferred tertiary healthcare provider to many unwell people in oil-rich countries, it determines how many patients they treat, according to Max Hospitals’ Medical Value Tourism team.

India issued 463,725 visas for medical travel in 2024, a number that depends on its relations with other countries, the economic conditions in those countries and the global economy, among other things.

“We haven’t issued many visas to Afghan patients since 2021, because India does not officially recognise the current Afghan regime,” said Anas Abdul Wajid, chief sales and marketing officer at Max Healthcare, New Delhi. The political upheaval in Bangladesh and the souring of ties between India and its neighbour means that fewer Bangladeshi patients will visit India, he explained.

Medical tourism is of value not just to hospitals but also to other businesses that benefit from the inflow of patients and their families from abroad.

“Khamsa ashra [15 in Arabic],” said a baker in response to an inquiry about the price of his flatbread from a Sudanese man. The baker can count up to 20 in Arabic, Pashto and Russian, he claimed. Behind his stall in Sector 50 in Gurugram is a...

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