Bangladesh medical tourists return to India

Patients from Bangladesh are going back to several private hospitals in Kolkata. While their number dropped to almost zero after the second wave of COVID-19, it has now jumped to around 50% of the pre-pandemic numbers, as land travel to and from Bangladesh resumed on February 25. 

RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIIC) used to get 250 Bangladeshi inpatients a month and 150 outpatients a day, has now said it is getting 100 inpatients a month and 80 outpatients a day. Bangladeshi patients contributed around 10%-12% of RTIICS’s revenue until the pandemic.

At Peerless Hospital, the number of Bangladeshi patients is said to have jumped to 40-50 a day, from zero in early January. This compares to 100-150 patients from Bangladesh daily in 2019. AMRI Hospitals is also claiming to be treating 3,000 a month, more now than before the pandemic.