The Government plans to launch a single window portal in order to promote medical and wellness tourism in the country, Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said on Wednesday.

“We want to make India a destination of choice for medical tourism. We plan to set up a web portal which will have medical and wellness services listed along with the accreditation so that users can choose wisely. It can also be used to address patient complaints, etc,” Sharma said after the first meeting of the National Medical and Wellness Tourism Board, Ministry of Tourism.

The board has been constituted with 25 members, including professionals from the healthcare industry, and will meet once in three months.

“Medical visa is an issue at present as people coming to India for treatment are opting for tourist visa. Other countries such as Thailand and Singapore are doing much better. But India has an advantage as treatment costs are lower here compared to other countries,” Sharma added.

Medical and wellness experts such as Naresh Trehan (Medanta), Devi Shetty (Narayana Health), HR Nagendra (Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana), Acharya Balkrishna (Patanjali Ayurved), among others, comprise the newly-constituted board.