Table Of ContentGlobal Perspectives on Health Geography
Anu Rai
Medical Tourism
in Kolkata,
Eastern India
Global Perspectives on Health Geography
Series Editor
Valorie Crooks
Department of Geography
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC, Canada
Global Perspectives on Health Geography showcases cutting-edge health geography
research that addresses pressing, contemporary aspects of the health-place interface.
The bi-directional influence between health and place has been acknowledged for
centuries, and understanding traditional and contemporary aspects of this connection
is at the core of the discipline of health geography. Health geographers, for example,
have: shown the complex ways in which places influence and directly impact our
health; documented how and why we seek specific spaces to improve our wellbeing;
and revealed how policies and practices across multiple scales affect health care
delivery and receipt.
The series publishes a comprehensive portfolio of monographs and edited
volumes that document the latest research in this important discipline. Proposals are
accepted across a broad and ever-developing swath of topics as diverse as the
discipline of health geography itself, including transnational health mobilities,
experiential accounts of health and wellbeing, global-local health policies and
practices, mHealth, environmental health (in)equity, theoretical approaches, and
emerging spatial technologies as they relate to health and health services. Volumes
in this series draw forth new methods, ways of thinking, and approaches to
examining spatial and place-based aspects of health and health care across scales.
They also weave together connections between health geography and other health
and social science disciplines, and in doing so highlight the importance of spatial
thinking.
Dr. Valorie Crooks (Simon Fraser University, [email protected]) is the Series Editor
of Global Perspectives on Health Geography. An author/editor questionnaire and
book proposal form can be obtained from Publishing Editor Zachary Romano
([email protected]).
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15801
Anu Rai
Medical Tourism in Kolkata,
Eastern India
Anu Rai
Department of Geography
School of Science
Adamas University
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
ISSN 2522-8005 ISSN 2522-8013 (electronic)
Global Perspectives on Health Geography
ISBN 978-3-319-73271-8 ISBN 978-3-319-73272-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73272-5
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors
or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims
in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Devoted to those millions of individuals who
do not have access to healthcare at home
Foreword
Medical tourism has evolved from health tourism that once regulated the movement
of people from their place of residence to the hubs where medical care was avail-
able. Medical tourism is post modern development of health tourism that is appraised
as a billion dollar industry transforming the local economy of the medical destina-
tion cities and even the national economy of destination countries. Medical tourism
research is now an interdisciplinary platform that attracts the attention of the schol-
ars from various fields of academia, including tourism and hospitality management,
travel medicine, social medicine, economics, etc.
The present book entitled Medical Tourism in Kolkata, Eastern India, authored
by Anu Rai, is a comprehensive work on the various dimensions of medical tourism
in and around Kolkata; the megacity serves India’s northeastern states, the whole
Eastern India as well as the neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal,
Myanmar, and Afghanistan as a medical tourism hub of international standard. The
author addresses the multidimensional spectrum of medical tourism from the lens of
a geographer. The book highlights an important segment of medical tourism research
concerning the flow pattern of medical care seekers with emphasis on elements and
factors controlling their motivation in domestic and international levels.
I firmly believe that this book will introduce a new horizon of industry–academia
linkages for its readers. It may also serve the emerging needs of medical tourism for
its practitioners contributing to different dimensions. Written by a professional
geographer, this book may be helpful for planners, medical tourism managers, tour-
ism geographers, and any individual functioning as the stakeholder in medical tour-
ism market, which is now a global phenomenon.
Visva-Bharati University Premangshu Chakrabarty
Santiniketan, West Bengal, India
vii
Preface
As a multibillion industry on a global-scale, medical tourism, travelling outside
one’s usual place of residence with the intent of gaining the opportunity for better
medical care, has the potential to reshape the contemporary space through its con-
sistent association with habitat, economy and society. Using geographical lenses,
this book analyses medical tourism as a spatial process with a particular emphasis
on neighbourhood scale. Of the many books which broadly cover the entire corpus
of medical tourism, this book offers a detailed account of medical tourism in the
context of a particular destination at a microlevel. Kolkata City, India, which was
selected for the study, is significant as it offers a medical tourism destination for
price-sensitive patients from lower- and middle-income countries. In an over-
whelmed world of knowledge on patients’ movement from developed to developing
countries, this book tries to draw the attention of scholars to the most common
movement of patients across the border within middle- and low-income countries in
the context of a particular destination.
As a significant tool for wealth creation, medical tourism plays a powerful role
in reshaping and redistributing local resources. However, little effort is put into
assessing the contributions of medical tourism and medical tourists in the context of
a particular destination or community. In this complex world of medical care, it is
imperative to reveal the crucial factors that play a significant role in the construction
of medical tourism experience at a particular destination. In pursuit of this objec-
tive, this book examines the scope of medical tourism and adopts a proactive role in
developing inputs for a successful strategy making to utilize potentialities of an
emerging medical tourism destination, with a particular emphasis on Kolkata medi-
cal tourism. This study adopts an exploratory case study design to draw an in-depth
analysis of the medical tourism process and its response at the microlevel. This
book focuses on the presentation of a well- grounded picture of the medical tourism
process while gaining insights and familiarity for later investigation.
Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal and the gateway to East India, hosts
medical tourists from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Pakistan
and Nigeria, countries that constitute the major segment of medical tourism demand
for India. The arrival of medical tourists has not only reshaped the healthcare spaces
ix
x Preface
of the city but also contributed to economic and infrastructure development pro-
cesses. However, to sustain it in the long run, it is essential to note the major chal-
lenges brought by this infant industry. Therefore, a systematic approach is adopted
to unravel the potentialities and challenges of the medical tourism industry in the
context of products and community. Ethnographic studies of medical tourists fur-
ther explore the specific need and experience in the context of a particular medical
tourism community.
The study of medical tourism as separate branch of knowledge is very new to
academia. Assessing the impact and suggesting recommendations for an infant
industry at a microscale, where no documentation or published database is avail-
able, this book strives to assist students, practitioners, researchers and policy makers
of medical tourism industry, transnational healthcare and international patient
mobility, healthcare disparity and medical travel business, geography of medical
tourism and travel medicine covering a vast research community. Moreover, this
book serves the interest of planners and administrators to take a proactive role to
utilize potentialities of an emerging medical tourism destination.
Kolkata, India Anu Rai
Acknowledgement
Of the many people who have provided valuable assistance in the course of my
investigation, I am especially thankful to Dr. Premangshu Chakrabarty, Professor of
the Department of Geography, Visva-Bharati University, and Prof. Ashis Sarkar,
Former Professor of the Department of Geography, Presidency University, who
encouraged me to work on medical tourism, an emerging spatial phenomenon on a
global scale. I am appreciative to Dr. Aninda Chatterjee, Chief Operating Officer
(COO), B.M. Birla Heart Research Centre, C.K. Birla Group; R. Udayan Lahiry,
Group President, Medica Synergie; Col (Retd.) Shivaji Samaddar, Vice President
and COO, Peerless Hospitex and Research Centre Ltd.; Arnab Banerjee, Assistant
Manager – International Marketing, NH RTIICS; Ruma Banerjee, COO, Neotia
Getwel Healthcare Centre; Richa S. Debgupta, Zonal Director, Fortis Healthcare
Ltd.; Suparna Sengupta, COO and Business Development; Samarjit Biswas,
Manager – Business Development and Corporate Relations, Woodland
Multispeciality Hospital Ltd.; and Raka Bhattacharya, PR Executive, Advatech
Healthcare Ltd., for sharing their valuable knowledge and information on medical
tourism in and around Kolkata. Special thanks go to Dr. Atindra Datta, Professor,
Medical University of Americas, Nevis, for sharing his ideas and vision about medi-
cal tourism with me. I am thankful to different government and non-g overnment
officials from the Directorate of Tourism, West Bengal; Bureau of Economics and
Statistics, Kolkata; Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, West Bengal; and
Airport Authority of India for their constant help, encouragement and cooperation
in completing the present work. I also want to express my gratitude towards all my
interviewees for mentioning their ideas and experience related with medical tourism
at Kolkata.
I am thankful to the Chancellor of Adamas University, Prof. Samit Ray; Vice
Chancellor of Adamas University, Prof. Madhusudan Chakrabarty; faculty mem-
bers; students; and research scholars of the Department of Geography, Adamas
University, for their cooperation and encouragement for completing this work.
I express my special thanks to Sourav, Sumana, Tanmoy and Arakmita for their
cooperation during the field survey. I express my profound gratitude to my family
and friends who have always supported me at each phase of my life. I particularly
xi
