Hospitals join hands to promote Kerala as a medical tourism destination

In an effort to promote healthcare tourism, leading hospitals in Kerala have formed a consortium to promote the State as a medical value travel destination worldwide.

The society, which was formed following the Kerala Health Tourism Summit, with 14 NABH hospitals from across the State, has elected its first set of office-bearers.

E M Najeeb, Executive Director, KIMS, has been elected the President; Harish Pillai, CEO Aster Medcity & Cluster Head (Aster DM Healthcare Hospitals, Kerala), is the Secretary; and N M Mujeeb Rahman, Medical Superintendent, MES Medical College is the Treasurer.

The hospitals that were elected to form the executive committee through nominees include Baby Memorial Hospital (North Kerala), Rajagiri Hospital (Central Kerala) and Ananthapuri Hospital (South Kerala).

The objective of the society is to place Kerala on the global medical value travel map and also promote the State as a healthcare hub in the country by 2020. Kerala, at present, attracts only 5-7 per cent of medical value travel, which is equivalent to $200 million annually.

Kerala has the potential to increase the inflow of medical value tourists by 10–15 per cent. The society believes that this can be achieved by 2020 with a strong, focused marketing strategy.

At present Kerala has 2 JCI accredited, 2 Australian accredited and 24 NABH accredited hospitals. The society will also work towards the vision of NABH accreditation for all private and public hospitals by 2020, ensuring maximum inflow of medical value tourists to Kerala.

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