Since August 8, when India and Myanmar introduced visas through the land border, the 200-bed multi-speciality Shija Hospitals in Imphal has treated nearly 130 Myanmarese patients, including over 20 cases of heart surgery, kidney, liver or cornea transplants.
The implementation of the land-border crossing agreement has opened up major medical tourism opportunities for Manipur.
Steady stream of visitors
Till October 17, approximately 925 Myanmarese citizens visited the State. According to border officials, the majority of them came on medical visa. Of those who came on tourist visas, the majority obtained outpatient (OPD) services in Imphal hospitals.
Over the last decade, Manipur witnessed massive investment in healthcare. The former Okram Ibobi Singh government built a new medical college. Top-notch private hospitals such as Raj Medicity, Mother’s Care Children Hospital and Jivan Hospital also came up.
The investors were counting on the potentials of the connectivity proposals such as the Trilateral Highway initiated by the Vajpayee government. Delay in implementing the projects during the UPA rule was a setback. The biggest hurdle, however, was the lack of visa opportunities.
‘Illegal’ visits
As neither Moreh (Manipur)-Tamu nor Zokhawthar(Mizoram)-Rih were designated as full-fledged border checkposts, land-border crossing required special permits, which were both time-consuming and costly.
This was a barrier to people on either side of the border, sharing similar ethnicity, language and culture. The easier way to bypass this trouble was entering the border without visa.
India and Myanmar follow a practice of allowing border residents to move 16 km inside the each other’s territory. Myanmarese patients used to take this route to visit Imphal, which is 110 km from the Moreh border.
The practice continued till the Narendra Modi government tightened the security apparatus a few years ago. Though it hasn’t stopped the flow of patients entirely, it attached the tag of illegality to an otherwise good business potential.
“The availability of land visa increased the flow of patients. We expect it to go up in the coming months. Most important of all, it paved the way for doing business ethically,” said Kh Palin, the founder of Shija Hospitals.
He is now planning to build a hotel in the hospital premises for accommodation of the patient party at a modest cost.
The Indian authorities have already alerted the stakeholders to pay attention to infrastructure building to tap the full potential of medical tourism. The State government is planning regular bus services from the border to Imphal.
Security concerns
There are some hurdles too. Manipur is the most insurgency-hit State in the North East. On August 8, when land-border crossing agreement was implemented, many patients were forced to go back from the border as a Kuki group called a bandh.
With insurgency comes gun running and smuggling, prompting the security forces to be extra vigilant. It means repeated checking and harsh treatment. There are at least three checkposts between Moreh and Imphal. In the absence of modern gadgets such as X-Ray machines, frisking is the common practice.
According to another hospital in Imphal, at a meeting in Tamu last week, the Myanmarese authorities accused the Indian forces of harassing the Myanmarese visitors, including terminally ill patients.