Kerala, a popular health tourism centre: Minister
Kochi: Kerala, lauded by the National Geographic
Traveller magazine as one of the world's 50 must-see places on the earth, is now trying to carve
out a niche for itself in the world's health tourism sector (medical tourism) , State
Tourism Minister K C Venugopal said today.
Inauguratingthe 'Kerala Health Tourism 2006- International Conference and
Exhibition on Health Tourism,' he said the state should gear up to tap
the booming health tourism industry would only grow with cross country
travel norms eased and medical aid in countries such as the US
escalating.
"A proportion of the US population has either no
health insurance cover or only partial cover. Besides, insurance
companies do not cover cosmetic surgeries, which has become
increasingly popular in the US," he said.
Kerala should also aim
at merging its expertise in tourism and in health care to further
strengthen its health tourism infrastructure, the minister added.
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