The growing medical tourism in India

The international dentistry market is huge. Moreover, it is also growing at a rate of 5% since the last five years. The Asian markets are doing exceptionally well in this regard with two digit growth rates. India has undoubtedly become a substantial market for the growth and sustenance of dental business activities.

India has more than 5000 dental laboratories and 297 institutes that offer courses on dentistry. Most of these institutes boast of scientifically approved curriculum and experienced faculty. Experts predict that in the coming 3 years, India will take over USA as the largest market for dental products and treatment services.

In the coming years, the growth in the domestic dental market is expected to rise up to 20 to 30% due to surge in investments in this domain. There has been a significant development in the field of investment in multispecialty hospitals who offer dedicated general dentistry, surgery and dental aesthetics services. Start-ups focussing on aesthetic dentistry are also mushrooming in the major cities of the country.  At present, the ratio of dentist to the population is 1:9000 in urban areas and 1:200000 in rural regions. Although this is not sufficient, it cannot be denied most of the improvements in this field happened within the last decade. In fact, today, the value of dental laboratories and the dentist clinic market is as big as US$ 90 million on an annual basis. There is a huge demand of expert dentists which is opening up lots of employment opportunities for the youth.

There are lots of factors which are contributing to make Dentist India something to reckon with. A few of these factors are:

i)                    Growing awareness of dental health and oral beauty

ii)                  High government expenditure in healthcare sector

iii)                Investment friendly policies of the present government

iv)                Cuts in custom duties on imports of dental treatment products

v)                  High disposable income of the millennials to invest in oral beauty

vi)                Increasing cases of tooth cavities due to erratic lifestyle

However, India significantly lags behind in the aspect of manufacturing dental products. Most of the dental equipment and accessories are imported from the western countries which has an impact on the pricing of dental treatment services. In fact, the implant segment of dentistry is fully dependent on the foreign companies. However, the present government is trying to boost manufacturing within the country through programmes like ‘Make in India’. If manufacturing increases, India can not only cater to its home needs completely, but also export additional products to the less developed countries. This will also help the Indian dental service companies to go multinational. The path seems clear now. The medical tourism sector is quite advanced in India. The dental tourism sector will also join its ranks soon.