India favourite among Omanis for quality healthcare, Kerala leads the way

Kerala, however is leading the way in medical tourism with hospitals like the Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), said E M Najeeb, group executive director, KIMS Healthcare. Najeeb who was in Oman recently told Muscat Daily that the sultanate is the number one market for Kerala’s medical tourism among GCC countries.

“Indian medical tourism industry is growing very fast. In fact in 2020, we expect to have US$9bn turnover from medical tourism in India. All this owing to the world-class accredited hospitals,” he said. Kerala alone has 26 accredited hospitals. “Most hospitals in Kerala have an international relations department which gives specialised services to foreign patients,” Najeeb said. KIMS hospitals alone have 1,800 beds.

“With about six hospitals, we are the largest healthcare group in Kerala and doing extremely well in the medical tourism segment. We get patients from all over the world including Oman for various kinds of treatments. We have been successful in delivering quality healthcare to our patients.” India is popular among Omanis for a variety of reasons such as affordability, presence of an Asian social milieu, state-of-the-art facilities, easy air transport connectivity and geographical proximity. “Omanis prefer Kerala hospitals because they are treated well and feel at home. The cost of treatment is also reasonable. Moreover, Muscat is just three hours away from Kerala.”

The no-waiting period for patients is an advantage for Kerala. “If at all there is waiting time, it is just a day or two for various check-ups that are to be conducted before any procedure.” Technology and innovation have taken medical treatment to the next level. “Technology is the only way to move forward and a lot of development is taking place in the field medicine and our hospitals get the latest.”

He said that the Indian government has completely changed the visa regime to make things easy for international patients. “They have introduced e-visa, m-visa and patient attendant visa. Usually, it takes two to three days to get a visa.”

To further ease the visa process, he said, “The healthcare industry wants the government to grant gratis visa for patients. We need the Government of India to consider the emergency needs of patients. We are in the process of proposing it to the government.” Najeeb also added that the Omani government and the Ministry of Health have been extremely supportive and as a brand KIMS has grown in Oman by way of KIMS Oman Hospital, KIMS Medical Complex – Duqm and KIMS Airport Clinics.