India should target 10 million international patients a year: Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday called on India’s pharmaceutical and healthcare industry to build globally competitive medical devices and scale up medical value tourism, setting a target of 10 million international patients a year.

Speaking at two pharma industry events –Sanjeevani 2026 and Bharat Health Global Expo 2026– Goyal said India should leverage its cost advantage and healthcare capabilities to emerge as a global hub for medical innovation and services.

He stressed the need for stronger hospital participation, skilled healthcare workers, seamless patient journeys and high standards of quality and ethics to attract more foreign patients. “While 3.5 million patients have benefited from India’s medical value tourism ecosystem in the last seven years, the country’s target should be 10 million patients a year,” he said, adding that India has the doctors, capabilities and ecosystem needed to achieve the target.

As part of a five-point action plan to strengthen India’s medical value tourism ecosystem, Goyal said India should prioritise training and certifying caregivers and develop a skilled workforce capable of delivering healthcare to international standards.

He urged insurers and health-tech companies to develop platforms that simplify treatment and ensure timely reimbursements. Hospitals, he said, should offer transparent treatment packages and follow ethical practices, warning that a single instance of malpractice could damage India’s credibility.

Goyal proposed a network of facilitators and international hospital tie-ups, along with a pool of interpreters to assist foreign patients. Hospitals treating international patients should be NABH-accredited, verified and panelled, he said, stressing that quality healthcare cannot be different for Indians and foreigners.

The Minister asked domestic medical device manufacturers to focus on quality and build a robust component ecosystem, offering government funding to help create advanced testing infrastructure. “We must develop a critical component ecosystem by strengthening our domestic capabilities with high quality.

We must create shared testing infra facilities where these equipment can be tested, benchmarked to the best in the world, certify and demonstrated to global customers,” he said. From BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards), we are willing to support 100 per cent cost of the best testing equipment for your equipment, the Minister offered.

“...100 per cent government of India will fund the acquisition of testing equipment...demand from us, there is no proposal from you. And we’ll set up the most modern labs,” Goyal said. He asked Indian companies to pursue technology partnerships, joint ventures and joint research and development with overseas firms, besides strengthening buyer-seller relationships and co-designing and co-developing products.

“We must bring technology partnerships, we must have better buyer and seller relationship, we must encourage joint venture...We must co-design, and co-develop licence wherever required...look for joint R&D centres with other countries,” he said.

Goyal also called for improvements in design capabilities, patent and copyright protection and the broader intellectual property rights ecosystem to encourage global innovators to invest and collaborate in India. India’s FTAs and wider trade engagements are also generating demand for Indian pharmaceuticals and healthcare professionals, Goyal said, with partner countries seeking Indian medicines, doctors, technicians, nurses and caregivers in large numbers.