India launches Ayush Visa for foreigners to promote medical tourism

New Delhi : India's Ministry of Home Affairs notified the creation of a new visa category-Ayush Visa-for foreign nationals, who are keen to visit the country for medical treatment including therapeutic care, wellness and yoga.

To enhance Medical Value Travel in Ayurveda and other traditional forms of medicine further, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoM) was also signed recently with India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), and Ministry of Tourism, GoI.

The introduction of this special visa will meet the purpose of introducing a special visa scheme for foreigners visiting India for treatment across different streams.

Reports said that Ayush Visa aims to fulfil the need for introduction of a special visa scheme for foreigners.

Union Minister of Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal said that this new initiative will help boost medical tourism in India, and will strengthen their endeavour of making Indian traditional medicine a global phenomenon, added reports.

Earlier, in 2022, PM Modi had announced creation of Ayush Visa, seeking to make it a part of India's roadmap for the Heal in India initiative of the government.

Later, the Ministry of Ayush and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare collaborated to develop a one-stop Heal in India portal to promote India as one of the top medical tourism destinations in the world.

As per the report of 'The Global Wellness Economy: Looking beyond COVID' by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), the Global Wellness economy will likely grow at 9.9 per cent annually. This gives an estimate that Ayush-based healthcare and wellness economy will likely grow to USD 70 billion by 2025, marked by a tremendous growth in Medical Value Travel.