After last year's political changeover in Bangladesh dealt a blow to the inflow of people from Bangladesh to Kolkata for medical treatment, hospitals say the number of medical tourists from the country appears to be creeping up again in the last six months.

Despite unrest in Bangladesh and hue and cry over slow visa issuance, the country remained the top source of medical tourists to India in 2024, with the total number standing at 482,336, close to the 2023 figure of 499,951, according to Indian tourism ministry data. The number was 326,805 in 2022.

The first four months of this year saw the number of foreign tourist arrivals for medical purposes in India reach 131,856.

The entire ecosystem for medical tourism includes a host of service providers, facilitators, hospitals and commercial agencies, like hotels and airlines, which had taken a big hit after the political turbulence in Bangladesh. But things seem to be looking up for them once again.

Medical tourism rating agency CareEdge says Bangladesh accounts for 50% to 60% of India's international medical tourists.

India's Medical Value Travel (MVT) sector was valued at $2.89 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $13.42 billion by 2026, driven by increasing foreign patient arrivals seeking high-quality and cost-effective treatment, according to the latest tourism ministry data.

Desun Hospital in the Ruby locality of South Kolkata says it has been recording a rise in footfall of Bangladeshi patients since April this year. 

Ruby General Hospital, which received around 800 patients a month from Bangladesh a year ago, is now getting around 400 – still well below the earlier figure.

"The figure has improved in the last two months but is still half of what we would get," said its general manager (operations), Subhasish Duttta.

Hospitals of the Manipal Group have also recorded a partial recovery. Ayanabh Debgupta, regional COO of Manipal Hospitals (East), said the delay faced by medical tourists from Bangladesh "is gradually easing, allowing more patients to access the treatment they want."

He added that there has been an increase in patients coming from Bangladesh, with an average monthly footfall of 3,000 to 3,500. Nearly 40% of them are new registrations, Debgupta added.

He said the group's hospitals are issuing an average of 300 medical visa recommendations per day for all Manipal Hospitals facilities in eastern India.

Low number of Bangladeshi patients at OPDs

Peerless Hospital in South Kolkata, another medical facility popular with Bangladeshi patients, now receives 15 to 20 people from Bangladesh a day at its outpatient department (OPD). The number was 150 on average until a year ago and admissions are rare.

A spokesman for the hospital said visas are probably being processed slowly, which has kept the number of patients low for a year now.

One of the reasons cited by some private hospitals for the low number of Bangladeshi patients at OPDs is that telemedicine has emerged as an alternative, especially for those seeking follow-ups.

Supriyo Chakraborty, group adviser for BP Poddar Hospital, said, "Non-emergency cardiac patients on medical management or pre-existing IVF patients are opting for online consultations."

"This apparently is the reason why Peerless Hospital has not been entertaining online consultations and would rather wait for the situation to normalise for in-person consultation," said an official of the facility.

At RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Mukundapur, Bangladeshi outpatients dropped from 6,000 monthly visits in June 2024 to just 1,800 in July 2025, according to R Venkatesh, group COO of Narayana Health, which operates the hospital.

Kolkata / Medical Tourism