The Hindu Business Line : FIEO move to market healthcare in 3 Asean nations

THE Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has formed a 14-member Medicare delegation for a 10-day visit (August 19 to 28) to three Asean countries, namely, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, to hold discussions on export of healthcare facilities from India.

FIEO's proposed action plan with regard to Singapore and Malaysia is to convince citizens of Indian origin and NRIs of the availability of globally competitive medicare at cheaper cost in India, alongwith an opportunity to enjoy heritage tourism.

It is also proposed to inform overseas insurance authorities and TPAs (Third Party Administrators) of our medicare excellence and get them to talk about Indian medical institutions to their clients.

Among the participants are reputed names such as Apollo Speciality Hospital, Madurai; Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai; B.M. Birla Heart Research Centre, Kolkata; Curie Centre of Oncology, Bangalore; Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute, Chennai; Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre, Mumbai; Dharamshila Cancer Hospital and Resarch Centre, New Delhi and Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thiruvananthapuram.

After making a detailed presentation on the proposed mission to a large group of heads of medical facilities in the city recently, Mr G.Balachandran, Director-General of FIEO, told Business Line once the familiarisation programme is set on course, the federation was planning to go the whole hog to effectively market Indian Medicare facilities abroad to the paying patients, especially the Indian Diaspora.

Medicare package, according to him, starts from reception of the patient at the entry of India and ends with departure at the exit point, and not merely medical treatment, as is generally understood by a number of our medical institutions. He said if insurance cover is extended for middle class patients from abroad, they will come to India for medical treatment in larger numbers.

He said a pre-visit to these three countries, alongwith the CMD of United India Insurance and an independent Advisor on the insurance sector has already been completed by FIEO. The visit has been done in consultation with the High Commissions of India in Singapore and Malaysia and the Indian Embassy in Indonesia.

FIEO, it is pointed out, may also talk to medical institutions about possible joint ventures besides helping in the visits of doctors and explore possibilities of joint ventures for recruitment of human resources such as nurses, para-medical personnel etc.

He said among the institutions and insurance outfits already visited in Singapore for preliminary talks were Singapore General Hospital, Gleneagles Hospital Ltd, Parkway Group Healthcare Pte Ltd, National University Hospital, Raffles Medical Group, ACE Insurance Ltd, HSBC Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

In Indonesia, the FIEO team has already interacted with ministry of finance, DG of financial institutions and Directorate of Insurance, P.T. Global Asistensi Menajemen, International SOS, P.T.Asuransi Aegis Indonesia, Asuransi Mitra and P.T.Asuransi Rama Satria Wibawa, and in Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Pantai Medical Centre, Sdn Bhd, Persatuan Insuran Am Malaysia and Institut Jantung Negara National Heart Institute.

Asked on the findings of these pre-visits, Mr Balachandran said Singapore, which offered the best and most comprehensive medicare package in Asia, was in need of doctors, nurses and other para-medical staff and was willing to outsource. While subsidized medicare is offered, not all of the population is covered under such schemes in Singapore, it is pointed out.

Malaysia was now progressing in establishing medicare institutions of excellence, and is keen on exchange of doctors with Indian medical institutions of repute. He, however, added that Malaysia does not recognise degrees of all Indian medical institutions and this issue needed a resolution.

As for Indonesia, Mr Balachandran said middle class patients were largely inspired by ethnic/religious/linguistic considerations in their choice of foreign medical destination. He said Bali, in East Java, offered one of the best location choices for Indian medical institutions, as 90 per cent of Bali's population was Hindu, because of centuries old historic links.