Can India’s medical tourism sector survive without Bangladeshi patients?
By Arunima Rajan
In an interview with Arunima Rajan, Sonam Garg Sharma, founder of the medical tourism company Medical Linkers, shares insights on the decline in Bangladeshi patients and its impact on healthcare ecosystems, opportunities in emerging markets, the role of digital outreach, and strategies for building a resilient medical tourism sector in India.
What are the underlying dynamics causing the significant drop in Bangladeshi patients—a situation that appears to disrupt a long-established trend in India’s medical tourism?
Indian medical tourism industry is definitely getting impacted by the shifting political landscapes of Bangladesh. According to my observation, the patients coming from Bangladesh to India are rapidly declining as India has tightened its medical visa policies. Due to this, our patients from Bangladesh are suffering and thousands of them who once relied on Indian hospitals for life-saving treatments, are now facing hurdles to access it. This disruption is proving to disrupt the once-stable segment of India’s medical tourism industry.
Geopolitics can have a direct, real-world impact on something as fundamental as healthcare access, and the ones suffering the most are our patients who are already battling tough medical conditions.
How do you interpret the impact of recent geopolitical tensions and stringent visa policies on this phenomenon, and what does it say about the broader regional interplay?
Sonam Garg Sharma, Founder, Medical Linkers
The situation has strained India-Bangladesh relations. As India is reducing medical visas, patients from Bangladesh are going to seek treatments from competitor countries like China. China is proactively filling the vacuum, offering medical visas and even investing in Bangladeshi infrastructure. This a clear strategic move to strengthen its holding in South Asia, and will ultimately maybe even reshape regional alliances and economic partnerships.
In a landscape where Kolkata and Chennai have been pivotal hubs, what has been the palpable effect on these cities’ healthcare ecosystems?
Kolkata's healthcare sector has been notably affected, with hospitals witnessing a 75% reduction in Bangladeshi patients since August 2024. Chennai also has revenue declines due to reduced patient footfall. Hospitals that once thrived on international patients, especially in cardiac and oncology treatments, are seeing drop in bed occupancy rates . And what happens next is a trickle-down effect meaning this will extend to sectors like pharmaceuticals, and local transport.
Even Chennai, a leader in multi-organ transplants, has had to shift focus toward domestic patients and new international markets. Kolkata’s hospital industry, reliant on Bangladeshi footfall, is witnessing lower medical package uptake. This shift is compelling these cities to aggressively reposition themselves and reallocate business to newer international and domestic healthcare segments.
With the decline from Bangladesh, what fresh strategies are Indian hospitals deploying to reinvent their global outreach, and do these represent a fundamental shift in focus?
Yes, we are witnessing Indian hospitals and the medical tourism industry shifting focus to countries in Middle East, Africa and Central Asia to attract patients. Indian healthcare is being every careful about this strategic pivot. They are working on enhancing international collaborations, tailoring services to meet diverse cultural needs, and investing in targeted marketing to diversify their patient base. This will help reduce dependency on any single country.
When we look at emerging markets like Africa, the Middle East, or Central Asia, what unique opportunities—and challenges—do they present for India’s healthcare providers?
Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia are all high-growth markets. Also, Africa alone is projected to contribute billions to global medical tourism by 2027. We need to go full throttle to capture countries like Nigeria and Kenya which lack specialized healthcare. India has potential to become the preferred destination for patients from these countries as we have doctors with the best medical expertise in the world due the absolute numbers of patients they treat to gain knowledge and experience. India is also affordable and close to these emerging countries.
However, there are challenges like visa bottlenecks, lack of direct flights, and competition from Turkey and Thailand. We need to work on fixing the wrong perception of India. What can work is prompting Indian hospitals to collaborate with African governments for subsidized treatments.
Central Asia is a hard market to capture due to linguistic barriers and insurance integration difficulties. India will have to enhance accessibility, regulatory ease, and focus on targeted outreach.
How crucial is digital outreach and targeted marketing in this recalibration, and are traditional methods still holding any sway in this new paradigm?
We are all digital now, and digital outreach has become indispensable now, especially for hospitals trying to reach global audiences efficiently. It is important to be visible and that can only happen when we can optimize online platforms for virtual consultations, patient testimonials, and create multilingual content which can enhance accessibility. This is not to say traditional methods like physician referrals and medical tourism facilitators are not relevant now, they are still popular choices for many but by integrating digital strategies we can be more comprehensive and effective in our global marketing approach.
As domestic demand gains importance in filling the void left by foreign patients, how are hospitals striking a balance between nurturing local healthcare needs and pursuing international growth?
In the Post-pandemic era, hospitals are dealing with domestic demand surges, balancing between serving local patients and maintaining international appeal.
Initiatives like Ayushman Bharat have boosted domestic patient volumes, and they are forcing hospitals to rethink pricing strategies. Private hospitals are now allocating dedicated international patient wings, this helps in streamlining services without disrupting local access, which is a nice change. I am also intrigued with how corporate tie-ups and employer-sponsored healthcare are bridging revenue gaps left by declining foreign patients.
The only persisting challenge is about maintaining cost competitiveness while delivering high-end treatment. With this Indian hospitals can retain both international patients and also fulfil domestic healthcare needs more efficiently.
The financial implications are significant—could you shed light on how the revenue models are adapting to this new reality, and what measures are being taken to cushion the blow?
Indian healthcare industry is losing millions due to decline in medical tourists, especially in high-value treatments. The best way to mitigate this by shifting revenue models towards long-term care packages, insurance tie-ups, and tech-enabled services like tele-medicine. Government-led incentives like medical visa relaxations and ‘Heal in India’ promotions are going to be the support shield of Indian healthcare. We as experts in the medical tourism industry can collaborate with hospitals to bundle travel & hospitality, making medical tourism in India fast, accessible and easy. The focus now should be on expanding footprints in emerging markets, and ensuring sustainable revenue diversification.
In a competitive arena where nations like Thailand, Malaysia, and Turkey are capitalizing on similar vulnerabilities, what can India learn from their approach to sustain its allure?
Currently, Thailand and Malaysia dominate medical tourism due to their seamless visa policies, integrated tourism-healthcare experiences, and aggressive government support. Thailand alone attracts over 3.5 million medical tourists annually, because they offer luxury healthcare at competitive prices. On the other hand, Malaysia’s government-led healthcare accreditation system builds trust among international patients. Turkey also is a preferred destination due to its strategic geographical location, they integrate health tourism into their national economic strategy. I think India can learn from these amazing strategies or definitely work on simplifying visa procedures, enhancing patient experience, and creating an end-to-end ecosystem combining healthcare with tourism. This can make India more attractive against global competitors.
Looking into the future, what policy reforms or strategic innovations do you believe are imperative to forge a more resilient and diversified medical tourism sector?
I always strive to make my patient’s journey comfortable. In my experience, India must adopt these 3 key strategies: streamline e-medical visa process, work on public-private healthcare collaborations, and robust international branding to sustain its medical tourism leadership. Government’s ‘Heal in India’ initiative is a wonderful step but it definitely needs faster execution and reach international attention. There are lot of new technology I am excited about like AI-driven patient tracking and block chain-based medical records which can change the way we do our operations!
We are also looking at forming partnerships with international insurance providers to enhance our patient experience & build trust.
Holistic care is always at the forefront of Medical Linkers values. Combining traditional medicine (Ayurveda, Yoga) with allopathy - to offer a differentiated value proposition. For Indian medical tourism to thrive, we need to work on policy agility, technological integration, and aggressive market expansion strategies.
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