Apollo Hospitals Highlights Potential Growth in Medical Tourism Through Global Insurance Integration

Medical tourism to India could experience a significant surge if international insurance firms begin covering treatment costs for foreign patients, according to Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Garmin Health Summit in Bangkok, Reddy noted that active encouragement and coverage by global insurance providers would help patients save considerable expenses. Apollo Hospitals has requested government leadership to form a delegation to engage with international insurance companies on this matter.

'If they start covering... then you will see a large segment of the Western world coming here,' Reddy said, adding that the influx would build upon the existing significant numbers of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) traveling to India for medical care.

Official figures indicate that the global medical travel market was valued at approximately USD 115.6 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 286.1 billion by 2030. Within this landscape, India's medical tourism market is estimated at USD 8.7 billion for 2025, with projections indicating growth to USD 16.2 billion by 2030.

Alongside medical tourism, Apollo Hospitals is expanding its focus on preventive healthcare and early detection. The hospital chain conducted over 4 million preventive health check-ups in 2025. Reddy emphasized that the organization views preventive health as a clinical engagement model rather than a purely commercial one, noting that advanced conditions such as advanced cancers or issues requiring stents are frequently detected during these assessments.

Technology and artificial intelligence are playing an increasingly central role in these clinical workflows. Reddy explained that AI tools are being utilized to pick up symptoms, analyze epigenetic factors such as telomere length to assess longevity, and build comprehensive corrective health plans. Furthermore, Apollo is working to rebuild its hospital operating system to be native AI-first, automating administrative tasks and integrating clinical intelligence engines into daily care.

As part of its technology deployments, Apollo Hospitals has collaborated with Garmin Health in a pilot initiative known as 'Grameen by Gramin'. Under this program, Garmin Health provided 100 smartwatches to residents of Aragonda village in Andhra Pradesh to track standard health indicators for patients with diabetes and hypertension over time.

Garmin Health Global Sales Senior Director Jorn Watzke stated that Garmin Health has observed strong interest from early collaborators like Apollo Hospitals and aims to continue expanding its presence across various industries in India.

"The intersection of healthcare infrastructure, digital technology, and global insurance policies presents a massive economic opportunity for India. As hospital networks like Apollo integrate artificial intelligence into preventive care and rural health monitoring, the scalability of Indian healthcare improves significantly. If international insurance integration materializes, it will act as a major catalyst for the medical tourism sector, driving institutional growth and foreign exchange inflow into the country's healthcare economy." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes