National strategy, roadmap formed to boost medical tourism: Govt

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Tourism has formulated a national strategy and roadmap for medical and wellness tourism in order to boost medical tourism in the country, said Union Minister G Kishan Reddy in Lok Sabha on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the strategy has identified several pillars including developing a brand for India as a wellness destination, strengthening the ecosystem for medical and wellness tourism, enabling digitalization by setting up Online Medical Value Travel (MVT) Portal, enhancement of accessibility for medical value travel, promoting wellness tourism and governance and institutional framework.

The Minister said the central government liberalized the e-Tourist Visa Scheme pursuant to the Cabinet approval on November 30, 2016 and the e-Tourist Visa (eTV) scheme was renamed to e-Visa scheme and at present, it has e-Medical Visa and e-Medical Attendant Visa as sub-categories of e-visa.

In the case of e-Medical Visa and for e-Medical Attendant Visa, triple entry is permitted and extension may be granted up to six months on case to case basis on the merits of each case by the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO)/Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) concerned. Medical Attendant Visa was co-terminus with the validity of the principal e-Visa holder, the Minister informed.

Further, as conveyed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it is coordinating with other Ministries and stakeholders to promote medical value travel in the country. Several rounds of stakeholder consultations have been conducted with line Ministries, Hospitals, MVT facilitators, Insurance Companies and NABH etc to identify the challenges and opportunities in the sector, said the Ministry of Tourism statement.