Visa hurdles choke Manipur’s medical tourism

Kh Palin did everything right over the last two decades to make insurgency-hit Manipur into a medical tourist hub. Till two years ago, his 200-bed Shija Hospitals, arguably the best of such facilities in Imphal, was full with patients requiring super-speciality care from the bordering Myanmar.

The flow is now dwindling due to poor accessibility of medical VISA to patients from the bordering Myanmarese States — Sagaing, Chin and others —keen to access the Moreh(India)-Tamu(Myanmar) land border.

The “hassle” is new. India and Myanmar follow a practice of allowing border residents to move 16 km inside the each other’s territory. In the past, the Congress government —both at the Centre and the State — agreed to make an unofficial exception to the rule, by allowing patients to travel 110 km to Imphal.

Manipur witnessed a significant investment in healthcare over the last decade. The former Okram Ibobi Singh-government built a new medical college. Also came up private hospitals like Raj Medicity and Mother’s Care Children Hospital in Imphal, Jivan Hospital at Kakching.

Everyone expected the Central government’s Act East Policy and regional connectivity focus to increase the flow of medical tourists. But the reverse happened as the Centre scrapped the relaxation.

The government is not incorrect. Manipur is the most disturbed State in the North-East with insurgent groups avoiding discussions and are engaging in a range of illegal activities starting from gunrunning, smuggling of gold and narcotics to hampering formal trade to make hay from the illegal entry of third country goods through Moreh border.

New Delhi rightly wants the medical tourists to take the VISA route for healthcare facilities. The problem is the nearest point to issue VISA is the Indian consulate in Mandalay. Given the rudimentary transport infra in the Northern and Western Myanmar; the distance is not easy to bridge. E-visa is no solution either, as this part of the world barely has access to electricity.

Add to this the lack of awareness among the people. “The government is right in stepping up vigil. But even those who genuinely need medical care are suffering,” said Y Ashok Kr Singh, MD of Jivan Hospital, located 60 km from the border.

At a recent consultative meeting in Guwahati on Act East organised by the government-sponsored thinktank Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS); Palin urged India to grant medical tourists VISA on arrival at the Moreh border.

But till that happens he has a plan-B to attract patients. Drawing inspiration from Thailand — which runs hospital at Mae Sot on the Myanmar border on the East — Palin proposed to partner a PPP initiative to build a super-speciality hospital for Myanmarese patients at the Moreh border. Jivan Hospital too is toying with an idea to open outdoor facility at Moreh.

Other hospitals are also considering if they can help facilitate Myanmarese patients to get e-visa by setting up outreach facilities at Moreh.