Health-care providers perspective on value in medical travel to India

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the supply-side factors that determines the quality of global healthcare services from medical tourism healthcare providers’ (MTHP) perspective, which provide value-in-medical-travel to foreign patients/medical tourists, who travel to India for medical treatment/surgery. Design/methodology/approach: The thematic content analysis of in-depth interviews with 15 senior MTHP, from 15 private hospitals in India was undertaken, to generate the themes, and identify the supply-side factors necessary for sustainable medical tourism management. Findings: The findings conclude that MTHP ranked in ascending order, less waiting-time for surgery, healthcare quality and accreditation, staff/surgeon’s expertise, healthcare information, hospital facilities and services, patient-safety, travel-risk, surgical costs and holiday opportunity as essential factors for providing sustainable quality and value-in-medical-travel to patients. Research limitations/implications: Many private hospital spokespersons declined to be interviewed due to confidentiality and privacy policy Practical implications: The findings are generalised in case of global private hospitals treating foreign patients. Policy implications suggest that private hospitals in developing countries need to focus on providing value-in-medical-travel, such as accreditation quality of healthcare, no waiting-time, patient-safety, qualified and experienced medical and non-medical staff, hospital facilities and post-surgery care with positive healthcare outcomes. Social implications: Medical-tour facilitators, hotels and tourism sites need to collaborate with agencies to provide inclusive built environment, first-aid and wheelchair access, to medical tourists, having financial and legal implications for business. Originality/value: There is little qualitative empirical research on the views of MTHP, regarding management of essential supply-side factors that provide value-in-medical-travel to attract medical tourists to India.