The Medical Travel Representatives Association (METRA) is a non-profit organization that works in the interest of the Medical Tourism Companies. The METRA helps HCF ( Health care Facilitators) to work as a connecting partner between patients ,doctors , government initiatives , insurance agencies, and different purchasers of medicinal services in the medical tourism industry all across globe . METRA is completely dedicated to raising consumer awareness worldwide ,social insurance choices and it also has value added initiatives which are intended to educate about various concerns at different levels and increment the number of patients who travel to India for various medical services.
This association works closely with many facilitators & medical tourism companies in regards t other patient medical treatment and advisory allied services to help International patients get a delightful and seamless experience during their stay in India. They are closely associated with all major corporate hospitals and clinics across India. The METRA bridges a platform to create awareness for its members in terms of patient safety, various educational initiatives related to health and tourism industry.
The METRA attempts to illuminate consumers about choices for clinical treatment, regardless of whether they are from neighborhood countries or any place across the globe. METRA is officially founded in 2020, but has been working since last five years to secure the interests of the Health Care Facilitators and contributory assistance to propel their business.
In 2019,India was positioned as 3rd most preferred country for Medical tourism business being very popular in Africa,SAARC,CIS countries and Middle East for quality treatment and all high end surgeries just at a competitive cost as compared to the western world. India over a decade has created basic facilities for stay and food for all economic strata of patients. Business was good for all-Medical tourism companies , HCF( health care facilitators),Hotels, Restaurants, Malls, Taxi drivers etc. all were getting work and earning well till CoVID 19 impacted the industry in such a way , which definitely will need ample of time to revive.
As travel worldwide has stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic, the clinical / Medical travel industry area has reached to a total halt and possibly take longest to revive . In this manner, business development probably won’t satisfy the hopes. In a discussion with Mr. Arun Sangwan, Founder METRA shared with us about the current situation with grief and disappointment faced by the unsupportive behaviors & efforts from the Corporate hospitals and Government during the Covid-19 crisis .He is very disheartened that the Indian administration unheard about their medical travel industry segment entirely. Post covid-19 landscape of medical tourism will bring about lot of changes in the way this business was traditionally performed .
He added – that this industry is undergoing a very difficult phase whereas government authorities does not have any concrete plan or strategy to revive the Medical Travel industry , which used to be a multi- billion dollar industry .