Newstrack

Taj teams up with TT Enterprises

Launches Medical Tourism Forum

Gayatri Vijaykumar - Bangalore

The first meeting of the newly-formed Medical Tourism Forum launched by The Taj Group of Hotels along with Chennai-based TT Enterprises was held at the Taj West End, Bangalore to discuss the potential and find means of promoting India as a medical tourism destination.

The forum saw participation from Columbia Asia Hospital, Manipal Hospital, Apollo Hospital, Wockhardt Hospital, Jet Airways, Travel Media Network and Shiva Consultants.

P Varadan, managing director of TT Enterprises noted that though the topic of medical tourism had been debated upon in every convention, no concrete steps had been taken in the direction of promoting it. "There is no integrated solution available for patients as of now. Someone has to take care of the travel details of the patients," he said.

According to travel consultant Vivek Khanna, the need of the hour was a system which provided an integrated platform providing end-to-end services related to medical tourism including travel, healthcare, hospitality and other ancillary services. Sivaram Rajagopalan, principal consultant with Shiva Consultants, focused on the need of obtaining proper accreditations for hospitals. "There needs to be standardised treatment across the board for both the local and foreign patients. Hospitals should take up the required accreditation," he stressed.

Speaking about the forum's future initiatives, PK Mohankumar, area director (Bangalore) and general manager, The Taj West End, said that it would look at getting accredited from the Confederation of Indian Industries. "We would also like to increase the participants from the travel trade and look at building public-private partnerships," he added. He also urged the government to formulate a medical tourism policy. Responding to the general concern about the high room rates in Bangalore, Mohankumar said that the hospitality industry was a victim of infrastructural constraints.