Regulating Goa’s medical tourism sector

According to the Times of India, Chief minister Pramod Sawant has said that the government plans to bring in legislation to improve Goa’s emerging medical tourism sector. He said the sector was still small in Goa, but was at risk of illegal practitioners offering sub-standard services.

 The chief minister was speaking at a panel discussion on the promotion of medical tourism in Goa, at the Goa International Tourism Mart, 2019.

Other panelists highlighted a variety of concerns hampering the development of the sector in Goa, including:

  • There had been much talk of promoting medical tourism, but little evidence of action
  • Lack of travel connectivity, and the deferral of the Mopa airport project to 2021
  • No separate government body accrediting hospitals and clinics in Goa