Medical tourism all set to boom, says minister

Coimbatore: Medical tourism will get a shot in the arm once the ongoing expansion plan of the Coimbatore International Airport is completed, health minister Ma Subramanian said on Monday.

Speaking to the reporters in the city, Subramanian said he collected inputs from the stakeholders on the need to increase the airport connectivity to international countries at a special interaction session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on the day.

“The expansion plan is going on in full swing with nearly 70% of the land acquisition works related to the project are already completed. As the project is expected to be completed in two years, medical tourism will bloom with the passengers arriving here from other countries,” he said.

In the interaction session, the minister said the performance of the Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam scheme will be reflected in the next two to three years through a drop in the death tally in Tamil Nadu.

Since the scheme was rolled out last year, he said as many as 70.94 lakh people seeking treatment for diabetes, hypertension, and palliative care have benefitted across the state. “Tamil Nadu records five to six lakh deaths per year. By the intervention done by the volunteers through the scheme, the mortality rate will fall to three lakh deaths within two to three years,” he added.

Electricity minister V Senthil Balaji, and collector G S Sameeran were also present.

Earlier, Subramanian inaugurated an Emergency COVID Response Package (ECRP) ICU and a renovated toxicology ICU, distributed free spectacles to the beneficiaries and inspected the ongoing super specialty project implemented through Japan International Cooperation Agency at CMCH.