India’s medical tourism industry has declined by around 50 to 60 percent, after staff at the Dhaka High Commission were recalled and visa issuance stopped, according to The Business Standard India.

Major industry players say a significant share of their outbound medical tourists declined during the April-September period of the current financial year (H1FY25), with major players seeing a drop of 25 to 40% of Bangladeshi patient volume, which has had a considerable impact on their revenue. .

The neighboring country contributes around 50-60% of India’s total medical tourism flow, according to a recent report by CareEdge Ratings.

Market leader Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL) saw a 15% decline in overall international patient revenue in the first half compared to last year, largely driven by a 27% drop in revenue Bangladeshi patients.

“At the height of the unrest in Bangladesh, there was a significant drop in volume, and most of that drop was in the most serious patients, some of whom were coming for checkups and so on. has increased considerably. I would say it has not returned to the peak levels that we saw last year,” said Madhu Sasidhar, president and CEO of AHEL.

The Indian government only allows emergency visas to Bangladeshi nationals. The report also predicted a 10 to 15 percent drop in attendance from the country. Other hospital chains echoed the same decline.

For Manipal Hospitals, around 10% of its overall revenue comes from international patients. At its centers in Kolkata and Bangalore, Bangladeshi patients constitute nearly 40-45% of the total international patients.

“Our centers in Kolkata and Bangalore attract large influxes of patients from Bangladesh. Until July, things were normal, after which they started to deteriorate. September was the worst affected month, with a patient flow down 50-60% Things got better in October, and November has just started Right now we are at 60% of our usual international patient flow from Bangladesh. “, said Karthik Rajagopal, Director of Operations, Manipal Hospitals.

While for Max Healthcare, international activities represent 9% of total turnover. Its international operations recorded 18% year-on-year growth in the first half of 2024-25 compared to the same period last year, mainly due to increased activities in other markets.

But the revenue from the Bangladeshi market has seen a considerable decline.

“The Bangladesh market contributes approximately 5% of Max Healthcare’s total international revenue. However, due to the recent political crisis in this country, revenue from this market has decreased by 50%. Max Healthcare has an established office in Bangladesh to assist patients seeking medical treatment in Bangladesh. our hospitals,” said Anas Abdul Wajid, Senior Director and Director of Sales and Marketing at Max Healthcare.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Kumar Verma told media last month that visas were issued to those who need them only in emergencies, due to lack of human resources.

Despite this, it is unlikely to have a major overall impact on the Indian hospital sector, since the contribution of medical tourism to the overall sector is around 3-5%.

In 2023, around 635,000 medical tourists visited India, compared to 475,000 in 2022, according to data from the Bureau of Immigration. Of this total, around 300,000 to 350,000 people came from Bangladesh.