Visa hurdle stops Pakistani patients, hits medical tourism

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: When countries go to war, even diplomatically, it’s always the people who suffer. This is exactly what’s been happening to the people as Indo-Pak ties have become frosty. India’s imposition of restrictions on the issue of medical visas to Pakistanis has not just affected hundreds of patients from across the border but also dealt a body blow to medical tourism in India.
It’s hard to find out precisely how many people travelled to India from Pakistan for treatment, but several laboratories TOI spoke to in Islamabad revealed that before visa restrictions were imposed, over 600 Pakistani patients used to visit India.
Most of them suffering from liver and heart ailments would go to major hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and other cities. But in February, there was a sharp drop in the numbers. And in the last two months, not a single Pakistani was granted a medical visa.
India took this decision after a Pakistani court sentenced Indian national and retired naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav to death on the charge of espionage. Islamabad has reacted strongly to this, while Pakistani civil society has appealed to human rights organisations to take it up with India and international bodies.
On this side of the border, business has been affected a bit. Even though more people come from Bangladesh, Iraq and Maldives for treatment, Pakistanis spend the most in India. A recent report by ministry of commerce and industry says an average Pakistani spends Rs 1.87 lakh on treatment in India. Those from Bangladesh spend Rs 1.34 lakh on an average, followed by those from Commonwealth countries (Rs 1.25 lakh), Russia (Rs 1.04 lakh) and Iraq (Rs 98,554).
“This is because Pakistani patients mostly come for organ transplants and heart surgeries for children that are costly,” said Manish Chandra, co-founder of Vaidam medical travel assistance company.
In 2015-16, he added, nearly 166 Pakistanis received treatment in India every month. Top Delhi hospitals, which are frequented by foreign nationals, confirmed this.
“We have observed a decrease in the number of patients coming from Pakistan. Patients have also informed us that visas have become hard to get. Issuing of visas is in the domain of the two governments and we would not like to comment on the policy of the central government on this,” said a spokesperson of Max healthcare.
Dr Subhash Gupta, senior liver transplant surgeon at the hospital, added that there hasn’t been a single patient from Pakistan for a month as against up to 30 earlier.
At Fortis, sources said, at least 20 patients who had contacted the hospital for various procedures have failed to come due to visa issues.
Officials at Apollo hospital said they used to get 30 Pakistani patients each month till last year, but not a single one has come in the last month.
Dr A S Soin, chairman of Medanta Liver Institute, said he has received only one Pakistani patient in the last month. “At least four others have contacted us for transplant but they are held up due to visa issues. They are in a serious condition,” he added.
On Wednesday, MEA had clarified that a Pakistani would get a medical visa only if Pakistan foreign minister Sartaj Aziz endorsed an application.