Fortis forecasts 10% revenue generation from medical tourism in three years

Indian hospital group, Fortis Healthcare, has been an early proponent of medical tourism. Now it expects to get 10% of its Indian revenue from medical tourism within three years.

Indian hospital group, Fortis Healthcare, has been an early proponent of medical tourism. Now it expects to get 10% of its Indian revenue from medical tourism within three years.

Aditya Vij of Fortis says, “It could reach 10% by 2014. Medical tourism currently accounts for 7 % of revenue. I expect it to grow in volume by 30 % annually during the next three years. With an increasing number of hospitals the actual income will grow substantially. Medical tourism typically denotes serving overseas patients looking for cheaper treatment options or better infrastructure. Factors like the falling rupee are bound to make the business more profitable. Patients come from the developed countries, mostly in Europe. Fortis will be looking at getting patients from Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.”

But Fortis has not forgotten the huge domestic market potential. Aditya Vij adds, ”Although the revenue share from medical tourism will go up, the company’s focus will be the domestic market. The company recently announced its plans to open hospitals in tier II and III cities, is targeting to commission the first of the low-cost hospitals in early next year and will be finishing with its planned rollout in 25 cities in the next three years. The idea is to take medical care to where people are. We want to bring healthcare to more and more people who today have to commute long distances to get decent medical care. We already have identified a few locations.”

At present, Fortis has 51 operational hospitals spread across the country while 15 more are under construction. Once the construction is complete, its capacity will go up to 10,600 beds. The company is always seeking acquisitions and will continue to look at such options for growth.

Promoting dental tourism, Chennai-based dental chain Dentistree has linked with Parveen Holidays to offer dental procedures with tour packages. The companies together are offering tour packages that help an overseas patient plan dental treatment in India and combine it with traveling.
Smilingtourism.com launched by Dentistree and Parveen Holidays provides online consultation with the dentists of Dentistree. Based on the reports, the dentist fixes the schedule for the treatment. As most of the procedures need more than one sitting with a gap of a few days in between, the patient can fruitfully utilise the time visiting places of interest in the country. Parveen Holidays will arrange for all the travel and accommodation needs of the patient as a package.

In the past year, Dentistree’s clinics in Chennai, Kanchipuram and Pondicherry have been regularly receiving international patients. Most of the dental tourists travel to make most of the price differential in high-end procedures.