Vipul MedCare eyes Indians in Gulf region

DUBAI: Vipul MedCare, a part of Vipul Group of India , has launched its medical tourism operations in the Gulf region to offer healthcare-related services to expatriate Indians.

With a coverage network span in 4,000 hospitals across India, the company now plans to market its packages to local insurers in Gulf to provide group health insurance benefits to Indian living there.

"Insurance companies in the UAE who sell medical insurance can now widen their network and provide choices to their insured customers at the click of a button by opting to send them out to India," said the company CEO Rajan Subramaniam.

Vipul MedCare boasts of a USD 80 million portfolio on an annual basis. It formed an alliance with Dubai-based Avita Healthcare and Global Assistance and announced launch of its services in Dubai and Abu Dhabi last week.

The company's healthcare packages will help facilitate second medical opinion, electronic medical record management and elective surgical procedures.

"The traditional pattern has been for an increase among Indians who seek medical treatment back home," CEO of Avita Healthcare Arun Paniyan told Gulf News.

This initiative will benefit all citizens of Gulf, particularly the insured population, corporate employees and self-paying patients.

It will be targetting local companies such as construction and labour supply, with a substantial base of Indians. "For a contractor client, their employee benefit cost savings could be cut by as much as a third," Paniyan said.

This will come at a price, which could be cheaper than opting to get treated in the UAE. There are other packages that go further up the value chain in what they offer policyholders. Individual policies are also available under the Vipul MedCare programme.