Leading Indian Hospitals, Healthcare providers (both Modern Medicine and Traditional Indian Medicine), Travel and Medical Tourism Industry providers have come together to form an industry association – Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA) that aims to work together to make India the leading global healthcare destination.

The phenomenon now popularly known as Medical Tourism is often cited as the next big opportunity for India after the IT outsourcing to earn billions of dollars in forex earnings and create jobs in the healthcare sector. So far only a select group of Indian hospitals have been making valiant attempts to market their services in international arena. More than a million overseas patients already treated at top Indian corporate hospitals like Apollo, Fortis, Wockhardt, Max, Manipal and many others have already proved to the world that the clinical quality, technology and cost proposition offered by India is unmatched. The capacity in super specialty segment Indian hospitals is expanding fast and there is no waiting period for local or overseas patients.

CII Mc’Kinsey study first reported on medical tourism as the billion dollar opportunity for India way back in 2002 and the steady growth in overseas patient arrivals has validated the potential. With a large number of new private super specialty hospitals and even integrated health cities coming up in India’s top ten cities, India has the potential to become the global leader in the Medical Travel/ Outsourcing industry. Indian doctors and professionals are world renowned for their skills and the country has abundance of all the inputs like talented young manpower, local high quality manufacturing base for pharmaceuticals, technology hardware and software that makes the Indian costs for high end surgical procedures so attractive. The challenge really is on the non medical side, primarily on the marketing front and also to create infrastructure and services to support the growth of medical tourism.

Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA) - a non profit body and a unified voice of the Indian healthcare (modern medicine as well as traditional Indian medicine) and travel industry is aimed at preparing India for facing the challenges of global competition and actualise the tremendous opportunity for India to become a leading global healthcare destination. Modern medicine as well as India’s 5000 year old traditional therapies like Ayurveda, Siddha and Yoga can offer to the world an unbeatable healing package.

“IMTA would strive to help its members reach out in a cost effective manner to millions of our potential global consumers who reside on the other side of the globe in a different time and cultural zone and make them aware of the tremendous value that Indian healthcare offers. The fact is that prior to choosing a hospital, the international patients first decide on the country or the destination. Therefore we all must join hands to aggressively promote INDIA as a preferred global healthcare destination,” Says Pradeep Thukral, Executive Director, Indian Medical Travel Association (IMTA)

The Government of India and its various arms are actively supporting the growth of medical tourism to India. In a message to IMTA, the Union Tourism Minister, Kumar Shailaja conveyed “This is indeed a commendable initiative and we all know the tremendous opportunity  that Medical Tourism presents for India. On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, I would like to provide all possible support this industry initiative  and would like to wish IMTA and its members great success in their efforts.

Two years ago the Government of India introduced a special category of Visa called M Visa for foreigners desirous of coming to India for medical treatment. India’s Ministry of Tourism has achieved phenomenal success in last five years with its much acclaimed “Incredible India “campaign that has multiplied the arrival of foreign tourists to India. The current year 2009 is being promoted by Indian Ministry of Tourism as “Visit India’” year and the ministry is keen to promote Medical Tourism. It has recently notified the Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme to eligible Medical Tourism players which enables them to get financial support for participation in overseas promotional events.

“Healing Through Love”

A Mission of Mercy is a nonprofit organization with the purpose of helping those who are in need but do not have the means to fulfill those needs for themselves. A team of licensed active and retired medical professionals help provide these needs. Free medical and dental services, along with prescription medications have become available to the uninsured working, homeless, and those who have found themselves in economic troubles, all through this compassionate organization. The mission seeks to help those in need by providing free basic healthcare by “healing through love.”

Many volunteer administrative, healthcare, and hospitality workers help fulfill the needs of many, no matter what race, color, creed, national origin or religion. The nonprofit organization, A Mission of Mercy, was founded in 1994 by pharmacist, Gianna Talone-Sullivan. Sullivan, who for many years was a clinical pharmacist in Arizona, felt a strong calling which was asking her to help the sick and hurt. The group helps many disadvantaged people in Arizona, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Texas through their traveling medication clinic. This mobile doctor’s office has thirteen clinics located in those four states.

The funds that support this miraculous foundation are all the result of private donations from thoughtful individuals just looking to help. The care that the patients receive is that in which resembles a real medical setting. The services are provided through a continuous care system, not just emergency and screening services. The traveling doctor’s office is equipped to diagnose and treat conditions ranging from acute to serve illnesses working with; the head, ears, eyes, nose, throat, neck, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, musculoskeletal, skin conditions, glandular, and psychiatric problems. The foundation also prescribes up to 225 different types of prescription medications, which are also free to the foundations patients.

The volunteer organization provides a large range of free medical options available to the uninsured and underinsured including; surgery, lab tests, and x-rays, in consultation with some hospitals, private providers and specialists in their areas. The group also provides dental care, which for now are in the Maryland and Pennsylvania clinics only. The services that are provided through the dental section of the foundation are; extractions, fillings, dental exams and x-rays, and to instruct patients on proper dental hygiene. A Mission of Mercy’s dental program is fully mobile; operating with everything a traditional dental office would have including; their portable treatment chair, x-ray machine, light, high-speed autoclave, and many sets of instruments, hand tools, compressor, and a electric generator.

A Mission of Mercy also provides prenatal care programs, which are only located in Frederick at the time being. The patients who participate in the prenatal care program will receive; a series of personal visits with a doctor and/or a nurse mid-wife, a supply of multivitamins and other necessary prescription medications, lab and diagnostic imaging services, prenatal blood work and a copy of complete medical records. Even though the volunteer physicians cannot deliver the child, the mother is given full medical records that she can provide to doctors at the hospital. A Mission of Mercy provides everything in which a traditional medical setting would provide. The organization is just a moving and free medical provider trying to fulfill the needs of the uninsured and underinsured. For more information about A Mission of Mercy visit http://frederickmissionofmercy.blogspot.com

MakroCare announces the completion of Oracle Clinical Implementation.

MakroCare has top of the line infrastructure to help life sciences companies to conduct the global trials. Some of them include Oracle Clinical (version 4.5.2), Oracle Thesaurus Management System, MedDRA (Version 10) dictionary, mCTMS and SAS. Oracle Clinical is a comprehensive clinical data management solution which allows companies to standardize and control data definitions and data usage across the global operation, ensuring that data is defined, managed, and interpreted consistently worldwide. To ensure that our data management capabilities meet stringent quality standards, we validate our clinical databases and software in compliance with the regulatory bodies and 21 CFR part 11 environments. MakroCare is the first to receive ISO 27001 certification for information security. The company has been awarded ISO 9001 for Data management security system and several other protective measures.

MakroCare, a global clinical services firm, provides clinical research support to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. The company offers site selection, patient recruitment, project and data management, clinical monitoring, quality assurance, medical writing, PMS/PharmacoVigilance, biometrics, and regulatory assistance. MakroCare has offices in USA (New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California), Germany (Frankfurt) and India (Hyderabad).

For more details visit www.MakroCare.com

MakroCare announces the completion of Oracle Clinical implementation to strengthen its Clinical Data Management services. This implementation will help the company in creating a faster data management solution, which improves time lines and optimizes the cost of the clinical trial.

Useful Links: Quality Assurance and Compliance India, Medical Writing Process India