Market Watch: What makes Gurgaon a Potential hub for Medical Tourism Industry?

Gurgaon, the largest city of Haryana, is located in the southeastern part of the state. The city was believed to be owned by Pandavas and Kauravas, who gifted this place to Guru Dronacharaya as an appreciation for his training given to them. To acknowledge the same respect, the government has renamed this city Gurugram in recent years.

The city has drastically transformed in the last few years. From being a land of farmers to emerging as the start-up capital and BFSI hub of India, it is growing with each passing day. Gurgaon's growth is every day witnessing new heights with swanky malls, 5-star hotels, rapid metro, luxury apartments, world class healthcare, and the list seems no end.

Gurgaon has emerged as a prosperous city filled with sprawling skyscrapers, shopping malls, urban lifestyles, countless cafes, clubs, and nightlife, everything emerging India longs for. The city has seen massive investments in road infrastructure, the construction of residential areas, and exclusive business venues. Gurgaon is gaining the country’s limelight and in no time has transformed into a global city.

The city has grown in almost every aspect, right from transport to infrastructure to its emergence as a healthcare hub.  In the last few years, the city has emerged as the evolutionary future for industries and financial developments. Currently, there are more than 250 corporate offices of fortune 500 companies within Gurgaon. Consequently, it is also called the Millennial City.

Historic Evolution of Gurgaon 

Gurgaon started emerging as a millennium city soon after becoming a part of the Haryana administration. The city's economic growth started with the setting up of a manufacturing unit of Maruti Suzuki Indian Limited in 1981. Gurgaon was considered a lucrative investment destination after India opened up its economy to foreign investment in 1991. Later on in the year 1995-1996, India's largest real estate developer, DLF played an instrumental role in the creation of this modern city by building the first huge office space for General Electric. The development of Gurgaon was started in phases by the real estate company. DLF and other major developers constructed good-quality high-rise apartments in this city, thereby replicating other international metropolises such as New York, Dubai, Singapore, Bangkok, etc.

Eyeing the immense possibilities in the city, numerous private developers also made their way into the real estate sector. Later on, development work started on a large scale in the city with the construction of highways, metros, malls, housing societies, high streets, and much more. Gurgaon's high rises were remarkable new things compared to Delhi's low-rise buildings.

Besides, Gurgaon was the first Indian city to have sprawling shopping malls to tap into India's liberalized consumer sentiments. (Gurgaon presently has close to 90 operational malls. In addition, there are 106 operational supermarkets & hypermarkets. The city is also known as the mall capital of India.)

Recently Gurgaon has emerged as a future for industrial and financial developments, as the city has received huge investments to enhance infrastructure and for the construction of exclusive business venues. Due to the stable law and order, cosmopolitan appeal, and burgeoning infrastructural development, this city has emerged as a favorite for companies to invest. It is the 3^rd largest IT center and the second-biggest BFSI center in India.

Gurugram a Goldmine for Medical Tourism Investments?

As Gurgaon emerged as one of the sought-after metropolises in India stemmed by plenty of top-quality employment opportunities, state-of-the-art residential-cum-commercial catchments, cosmopolitan appeal, and high liveability index; social facilities such as healthcare also grew at a scorching pace.

Gurgaon has a fully operational health care ecosystem, with numerous multispecialty hospitals, specialized healthcare centers, trauma centers, oncology hospitals, child care clinics, and much more. It has around ~ 120 diagnostic centers and pathology labs.

Gurgaon’s prolific & multi-faceted healthcare ecosystem coupled with the city’s proximity to IGI Airport (~ 25 mins) and higher standards of living naturally makes it a popular medial tourism destination. Medical tourism is on the rise further after the COVID-19 outbreak has begun to dissipate. All those who delayed their medical treatment to avoid visiting hospitals are now moving to Gurugram for the same. The city has plenty of healthcare facilities to meet the growing need of international patients.  And to help provide these medical tourists with a home-like stay, many service apartments have come into action. There are specific service apartments to cater to the need of medical tourists from Middle east, CIS countries, Afghanistan, South East Asia, East Asia, etc. They generally serve the cuisine of the specific country to further make the stay comfortable.

If you are wondering about the importance of medical tourist service apartments, we shall tell you that these can be helpful for people who are not from Delhi-NCR or India. We all know that medical treatment for major diseases takes a long time. And the patient visits the hospital with a companion for the same. Thus, the patient and his companion need to take a hotel for a stay. Hotel stays are uncomfortable, and one cannot imagine living in them for a long time. Hence service apartments are more affordable and home-like options.

How to Prepare a Feasibility Study for a Healthcare Set-Up in Gurgaon?

India holds 9^th position in the world medical tourism index. Gurgaon will continue to play a major role in India’s rising medical tourism industry. This will also entail the increased need for feasibility and research services pertaining to health care centers, diagnostic labs, clinics, dental care centers, serviced apartments, tour operators, etc.

Meanwhile, when one prepares a feasibility study for a healthcare setup in Gurgaon, what you need to follow are some steps which make the study beneficial. Designing the feasibility study with lots of efficiencies and keeping users in mind is extremely crucial. And it all begins with a financial feasibility study and market demand. Here, The India Watch team has described certain phases of building a healthcare feasibility study, have a look-

Phase 1: Market Needs Assessment and Financial Feasibility Study-

Any market assessment will be incomplete without a thorough overview of the market demand. Primarily, this analysis is inclusive of researching aspects of the assumed patient population, like- their demographics, diagnoses, health plan/insurance coverage, expected treatments, etc. If in this first phase, you experience negative results, there will not be much loss of time and money, and you can decide not proceeding with the project.

Phase 2: Pre-planning-

If your financial feasibility study and market analysis were in your defence, then head to the pre-planning phase. This will enable you to collect the information you require before beginning the actual design and construction of your healthcare setup. It is vital to learn about the cultural aspects of the community that might affect the services. This phase must include- an estimation of construction and equipment costs, developing a service and space plan to accomplish the services, considering construction management, etc.

Phase 3: Design and Construction-

In this phase, you can finalize the structuring, get investors in, evaluate your business, permits issued, and contractors hired. The professionals completed the site survey and needed construction documentation and interior plans. You also need to look into the purchase of furniture, fixtures, medical equipment and other such relevant objects that will result in the smooth functioning of your setup.

Phase 4: Operations Planning-

Even before your building structure is complete, other details, like- purchasing supplies, hiring, recruiting, and training staff, penning down policies and procedures, getting payor contracts and enrolling with Federal and State healthcare programs, etc., are all crucial. These minute but important aspects of the planning need to be on point without comparison.

Phase 5: Post-opening Evaluation and Follow-up-

No development of your healthcare setup will be complete with the last phase, as when it comes to function, you need to look after the ongoing operations and keep a check on them. You are required to judge provider satisfaction, have a look at financial trends, hold a board of directors meeting, etc. The vitality of this phase lets you learn about whether the initial criteria for the project you planned were met or not. All these phases when combined give the best feasibility study result followed by a full-proof plan to have success for your healthcare setup in Gurgaon.