Role of information and communication technologies in promoting medical tourism in India

Medical tourism industry has recognized the benefits of integrating the information and communication technologies to facilitate information exchange between the patients and the health care providers to improve the medical tourism services. Health care institutions have transferred many of their services to their respective web sites to further the goals of promoting medical tourism in India. Therefore, the present study examines the role of information and communication technologies in promoting medical tourism in India. The study analyses the web sites of 3 JCI approved and 3 NABH accredited hospitals located in Punjab, based on 7 main dimensions and 15 sub-dimensions. The findings of the study reveal that, by providing a full range of services over the internet such as virtual tours of the hospitals, doctors' profile, video conferencing, self-diagnosis, telemedicine, etc., the hospitals of India are contributing a lot towards the promotion of medical tourism because the patients need not visit the hospitals personally for fixing their appointments or for consulting their doctors. The study suggests that the services provided by the hospitals over the web should be further improved in order to promote medical tourism in India.