As if the country’s astonishing wildlife, palm-fringed golden beaches, ancient temples and its tantalising cuisine would not be reason enough to rank India amongst the world’s top holiday destinations, the country’s expanding medical industry sees the South Asian country grow even more popular among holiday makers.

According to a recent report, India’s medical tourism market has the greatest potential in the world, enjoying a considerable superiority over other popular medical holiday destinations, such as Singapore and Thailand.

But why is India so popular? As private health-care patients usually pay 20-50 percent of the UK cost for surgery, pricing is obviously a driving factor. Additionally the quality of the medical care provided is increasingly recognised internationally, with good supply of well-qualified doctors and experienced surgeons, issues of uncertainty about possible health risks are put at bay. Furthermore, as treatments range from ayurvedic therapies to plastic surgery, the sheer variety of treatments provided entice many Western patients to go East.

The Indian medical tourism market is expected to generate over US$ 2.5 Billion in revenues by 2012. This growth is expected to act as a catalyst for the growth of several associated industries, including the hotel industry, medical equipment industry and pharmaceutical industry. According to an article in India’s financial newspaper The Economic Times, the rapid growth of this sector will open up new job opportunities with an estimated demand for 5,000-10,000 professionals specifically catering to this industry segment in the next five years.

So it is clear to see that India is set to become a leading player in the medical tourism field, where visitors will go to not only be able to receive the health benefits of sun, sand and sea but also to get a complete medical overhaul.