NEW DELHI, 10 July 2005 — India is introducing a new visa category for foreigners coming here for long-term medical treatment as increasing numbers of people stream in from abroad for low-cost health care, a news report said yesterday.
The new medical visas will be valid for one year and can be extended for another year, The Economic Times newspaper said.
Previously, most foreigners coming to India for health care entered on six-month extendable tourist visas.
“It was to save them this unnecessary trouble that we decided to introduce the category of medical visas,” the newspaper quoted External Affairs Ministry official D. S. Mishra as saying.
The patient will have to register in an Indian hospital or treatment center within 14 days of arrival. The patient will be allowed to bring two attendants - spouse or relatives.
Advisories regarding the visa have been sent to all Indian missions. It will be applicable to all foreign nationals.
The new visas are aimed at helping those who come for procedures such as organ transplants, plastic surgery and joint replacements, the newspaper said.
External Affairs Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment yesterday.
India attracts many foreigners, especially from neighboring countries and the Middle East, who come for low-cost specialty treatment. Several children from India’s neighboring rival country Pakistan have undergone heart surgery in the southern Indian city of Bangalore since the two nations resumed rail, road and air travel in 2004 after a two-year disruption.
As India and Pakistan try to mend relations after decades of acrimony and fighting, India has offered free treatment for 20 Pakistani children every year.
The federal government and several states are also seeking to equip medical facilities in villages and cities for “tele-medicine” in which a doctor examines a patient in another location by video link, and then offers consultation.
