Ministry of Tourism has formulated a National Strategy and Roadmap for Medical and Wellness Tourism in order to boost Medical Tourism in the country. The Strategy has identified the following key pillars:

i.          Develop a brand for India as a wellness destination

ii.         Strengthen the ecosystem for medical and wellness tourism

iii.        Enable digitalization by setting up Online Medical Value Travel (MVT) Portal

iv.        Enhancement of accessibility for Medical Value Travel

v.         Promoting Wellness Tourism

vi.        Governance and Institutional Framework

The Government of India liberalized the e-Tourist Visa Scheme pursuant to the Cabinet approval on 30.11.2016 and the e-Tourist Visa (eTV) scheme was renamed to e-Visa scheme and at present it has e-Medical Visa and e-Medical Attendant Visa as sub-categories of e-visa.

In the case of e-Medical Visa and for e-Medical Attendant Visa, triple entry is permitted and extension may be granted up to 6 months on case to case basis on merits of each case by the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO)/Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) concerned. Medical Attendant Visa was co-terminus with the validity of the principal e-Visa holder.

Further, as conveyed by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, it is coordinating with other Ministries and stakeholders to promote medical value travel in the country. Several rounds of stakeholder consultations have been conducted with line Ministries, Hospitals, MVT facilitators, Insurance Companies and NABH etc. to identify the challenges and opportunities in the sector.

This reply was given by Minister of Tourism Shri G Kishan Reddy in Lok Sabha today.

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NB/SK