Bangladeshi patients make up the largest chunk of international visitors checking into Indian hospitals for procedures, but numbers dipped sharply last year after political crisis gripped the neighbouring country. While hospitals like Apollo and Manipal–which were among the most impacted – are expecting a gradual uptick, the focus is now on bringing in more patients from other regions as well.
“Bangladesh has historically been one of the largest contributors to Manipal’s international patient base, accounting for approximately 120 patients per day across our hospitals,” Vikas Tayer, head of international healthcare services at Manipal Hospitals, told Mint. Bangladesh contributes about 25-30% of their international patients in India, especially in the Kolkata region, he said.
The unrest that followed the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the ensuing visa restrictions have resulted in a significant drop in patients from Bangladesh since July 2024. A report by CareEdge ratings from August 2024 noted that patients from Bangladesh make up about 50-60% of India’s overall international patients, and estimated a 10-15% decline in their numbers during the year.
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Analysts and industry executives Mint spoke to pointed out that while there has been a slight uptick in patients, the numbers are nowhere close to what they were. “There has not been any meaningful recovery [so far]…There are some patients coming in, but it’s far lower than what it used to be,” said Prashant Nair, lead pharma and healthcare analyst at Ambit Capital.
Ease in travel restrictions
Manipal hospitals saw a 78.3% drop in Bangladeshi patients between late July and September 2024, Tayer said. “While some patients had already arrived before the crisis intensified and were able to complete their treatment, new arrivals have significantly declined…At present, the situation remains challenging, but we remain optimistic that patient flow will normalize with the ease in travel restrictions,” he added.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the government’s focus on boosting medical tourism and easing visa norms while presenting the Union Budget 2025. This is expected to help draw more than just Bangladeshi patients.
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“It [looks] at the overall structuring, which is what other countries have done, like visa on arrival or e-visas that Turkey or Thailand have…better flight connectivity, [better] marketing and positioning because India has a large number of hospitals which are internationally accredited,” Sangita Reddy, joint managing director of Apollo Hospitals said.
“Positioning is really the focus. Bangladesh is a temporary crisis which will be overcome…patients continue to come although the numbers are much less now,” she said.
Diversifying patient base
Medical tourism makes up a small chunk of India’s private healthcare industry contributing between 9-12% of overall revenues for the large hospital chains. However, hospitals are now trying to boost this, by looking at increasing the number of patients coming in from other key markets, as well as targeting new regions.
Manipal’s strategic initiatives in its other key markets like Africa, the West Asia and Southeast Asia are helping diversify their patient base and mitigate dependence on any single region, Tayer said.
Max Healthcare, which saw its international business grow 28% year-on-year in Q3FY25, has managed to compensate for the loss of tourism from Bangladesh through its outreach in other markets, managing director Abhay Soi said.
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“We set up quite a few offices overseas to cast our net wider as far as international tourism is concerned, and also go deeper into these places,” he said. “We have been investing significantly over the past few years in these geographies by putting our people there, by having offices over there, and engaging more and more.”
The Delhi-NCR headquartered hospital chain sees Africa, West Asia, East Europe as well as South Asian countries as its key markets. But there are newer countries entering the mix. “We have also started seeing patients from the UK because of the long waits over there…we have a comparative advantage as a nation simply because of the cost we are able to do it at and the skills that we have,” Soi said.
Reddy concurred. “The primary shift will happen,” she said. “We’re seeing a lot more people from the US and UK…of course, the main markets remain Eastern Africa, Uzbekistan, CIS countries, and now some of the Far East as well.”
A lagging ecosystem
Despite the renewed focus on boosting medical tourism, Indian hospitals need to grapple with a lagging ecosystem and more developed systems in countries like Thailand, which are expected by patients from developed countries.
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Countries like Thailand and Singapore are more established because of the overall ease of getting medical treatments there. Things like where a patient will stay, where their family will stay, logistics, food, language access etc. are well taken care of. “These are far better in some of these [countries] because they have been doing this for a long time,” Nair said.
“The overall ecosystem [in India] will take some time to build,” he said.