Bangladeshi medical travel to India surges again

Kolkata hospitals are seeing a sharp rebound in patients from Bangladesh, marking the strongest recovery since political turmoil in Dhaka disrupted cross-border medical travel in 2024.

Bangladeshi patients make up a major share of revenue for many private hospitals in Kolkata. The renewed uptick is helping hospitals recover from a year-long collapse in medical tourism — but fresh instability in Bangladesh is raising new concerns, according to the Times of India.

By the numbers

• Hospitals across Kolkata report significant increases in Bangladeshi patient footfall since October, reaching half or more of pre-crisis levels.
• This comes after arrivals nearly stopped following anti-Hasina unrest and the fall of the Hasina government in August 2024.

Hospital snapshots:

• RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences: Footfall has risen 30% in the past two months.
  • "The numbers are on the rise again and have crawled back to what was recorded last Sept. The footfall has increased by 30% over the past two months. Despite the jump, the numbers are still 50% of what we saw towards the beginning of 2024," said R Venkatesh, COO (East), Narayana Hospitals.
• Ruby General Hospital: Daily OPD turnout is now 20–25, roughly 50% of pre-August-2024 levels.
  • "It has now increased to 50% of the numbers we recorded till Aug 2024. The daily turnout at OPD is now 20-25. It was around 45 before trouble broke out last year. Around 20% of OPD patients are being admitted, a trend that has remained unchanged," said Subhashis Datta, GM (operations).
• Desun Hospital: Around 1,500 Bangladeshi patients monthly — almost back to its August 2024 count.
  • "Currently, we are getting around 1,500 patients (from across the border) in a month, which is close to what we would get till Aug last year," said Sajal Dutta, chairman & MD.
  • The hospital is also seeing high demand for travel documentation:
    "A Bangladeshi who wants to visit India for treatment has to get a Visa Invitation Letter (VIL) ratified by the hospital concerned. We are getting requests for almost 2,200 VILs in a month," he added.
• Peerless Hospital: A near-zero patient base a year ago has risen to five inpatients today, though still far below the pre-turmoil level of 35.
  • "We have around five Bangladeshi inpatients. Just a year ago, there were none. By far, this is the steepest rise in footfall since Aug 2024. Before that, we would have around 35 Bangladeshi inpatients at any point of time," said Sudipta Mitra, CEO.

What's driving the surge

• Faster issuance of Indian medical visas.
• A shift in the type of patients arriving: more urgent cases and fewer routine procedures.
• "It is difficult to gauge the reason behind the rise in numbers… most appointment requests… are for cardiac and cancer patients, who need urgent treatment… So, we guess, serious patients are receiving clearances faster ," said Datta of Desun Hospital. 

The big concern

The rebound could be short-lived.

Hospitals are wary after a Dhaka court sentenced former PM Sheikh Hasina to death on Monday, sparking fresh political uncertainty. Administrators fear another wave of unrest in Bangladesh could again disrupt medical travel - and reverse the fragile recovery.