India a hot destination for Pakistani medical tourists

Arpita Singh and Bilal Ahmed

Sitting in a room in India, Hadiya from Sindh, Pakistan talks fondly about her home, siblings and friends. The 15-year-old girl came to India for her liver transplant in December 2017. Hadiya arrived in India with her parents and maternal uncle. However, the last-minute U-turn by her uncle, who refused to donate the liver, left the family devastated. Luckily for Hadiya, her mother Nausheen, who was not in a condition to donate her liver earlier when the family was still in Pakistan, was cleared for donating liver after undergoing tests in India.

India is a growing destination for medical tourism. The number of foreign patients coming to India is constantly rising as suggested by the data of the last six years issued by Ministry of External Affairs last year. India’s potential as a hub for medical tourism was formally recognized by the Indian government over a decade ago.

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