Med tourism takes a hit, B'desh patient inflow slides to 10% of what it was a yr ago

Time of India

2 days ago

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Kolkata: It's been a year since Bangladesh went into turmoil, stemming the flow of patients to Kolkata hospitals even as travel restrictions were imposed. The number of patients from the neighbouring country has slid to just 10% of what it was a year ago, though some private hospitals have seen a marginal rise in numbers since April.
With visas still being issued slowly, the situation is not likely to improve soon, they felt. Some are actively exploring opportunities to expand reach beyond Bangladesh to fill up the void.
Peerless Hospital now receives 15-20 Bangladeshi patients a day at its OPD. The number was 150 on average until a year ago. Admissions are rare. "Patients are apparently still finding it difficult to secure health visas to travel to Kolkata.
Visas are probably being processed slowly, which has kept the number of patients low for a year now," said Peerless Hospital CEO Sudipta Mitra.
Charnock Hospital, too, has seen a sharp drop. "Some patients do trickle in. But it's nothing like before. And my guess is this will take a long time to revive," said Charnock managing director Prashant Sharma, also the chairperson of Health Committee of Indian Chamber of Commerce.
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At RN Tagore Hospital (RTIICS), number of Bangladeshi patients has dipped by 75% over the last year. "If we compare June 2024 numbers to June 2025 numbers, it is down to a fourth of what we would get," said Narayana Hospitals COO R Venkatesh.
Bangladesh records 70% of India's medical travellers.
Some hospitals have witnessed a slow footfall rise since April, though. Manipal Hospitals have witnessed a partial recovery.
Ayanabh Debgupta, regional COO — Manipal Hospitals (East), stated: "Due to recent political developments in Bangladesh, many who wished to travel to India for medical care were facing delays. This situation is gradually easing, allowing more patients to access the care they need. Currently, we are issuing an average of 250 to 300 medical visa letters per day across all Manipal Hospitals in Eastern India.
Since April, we have observed a steady rise in patient inflow from Bangladesh, with an average monthly footfall of approximately 3,000 to 3,500 patients — around 40% of whom are new registrations."
The recent launch of Ayush portal by the Centre has streamlined medical visa process. Desun Hospital has been witnessing a steady rise in footfall of Bangladeshi patients since April 2025, with OPD figures achieving nearly 90% of footfall it saw before trouble started in Bangladesh last year. Ruby General Hospital, which received around 800 patients a month from Bangladesh a year ago, now gets around 400. "It has improved in last two months but is still half of what we would get," said general manager (operations) Subhasish Datta.