Economic Multiplier Pathways of Medical Tourism and Regional Development in Emerging Indian Healthcare Markets: A Systematic Review with Emphasis on West Bengal

Anirban Banerjee , Dr Anup Kumar Ghosh

Cross - Border Patient Mobility, Economic Multiplier Effects, Medical Tourism, Regional Development, West Bengal Healthcare Market

The systematic literature review (SLR) integrates the scholarly publications published since 2015 and assesses the paper on how medical tourism serves as an economic multiplier and on the development of the region in India, particularly the West Bengal region. Through a PRISMA-directed search and filtering procedure, 58 refined records were initially identified, and 41 studies were incorporated into the inclusion criteria of qualitative synthesis. The chosen literature includes empirical literature, case literature, policy literature, geospatial suitability literature, sector literature, and thematic literature reviews. The major insights include that medical tourism brings direct revenue to the form of healthcare services, indirect benefits in terms of hospitality and transportation connections, and indirect benefits in terms of employment and investments of infrastructure (Connell, 2015; Barnwal, 2024; Basu, 2020). Nonetheless, the effects occur through uneven state capacity, stakeholder coordination, FDI, supportive governance, medical-device ecosystems, and destination-specific assets (heritage, ecotourism, coastal zones) (Ormond and Mainil, 2015; Baitalik and Bhattacharjee, 2023; Acharya et al., 2022). West Bengal can be seen as a recipient as well as sender of the cross-border patients (and, especially, of Bangladesh) and local enablers (medical-hotel tie-ups, traditional medicine offerings) and constraints (infrastructure gaps, spatial inequality) can be reported (Choudhury et al., 2023; Das et al., 2022; Chakraborty and Poddar, 2020). The review determines gaps in the methodology (small longitudinal studies, little rigorous economic multipliers, little standardized data) and suggests an integrated research and policy agenda to exploit medical tourism to ensure inclusive regional development.

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"Economic Multiplier Pathways of Medical Tourism and Regional Development in Emerging Indian Healthcare Markets: A Systematic Review with Emphasis on West Bengal", IJSDR - International Journal of Scientific Development and Research (www.IJSDR.org), ISSN:2455-2631, Vol.11, Issue 1, page no.b43-b55, January-2026, Available :https://ijsdr.org/papers/IJSDR2601105.pdf

Volume 11 Issue 1, January-2026

Pages : b43-b55

Paper Reg. ID: IJSDR_306818

Published Paper Id: IJSDR2601105

Downloads: 000275

Research Area: Management All

Country: Kolkata, WestBengal, India

Published Paper PDF: https://ijsdr.org/papers/IJSDR2601105

Published Paper URL: https://ijsdr.org/viewpaperforall?paper=IJSDR2601105

DOI: https://doi.org/10.56975/ijsdr.v11i1.306818

ISSN: 2455-2631 | IMPACT FACTOR: 9.15 Calculated By Google Scholar | ESTD YEAR: 2016

An International Scholarly Open Access Journal, Peer-Reviewed, Refereed Journal Impact Factor 9.15 Calculate by Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar | AI-Powered Research Tool, Multidisciplinary, Monthly, Multilanguage Journal Indexing in All Major Database & Metadata, Citation Generator

Publisher: IJSDR(IJ Publication) Janvi Wave

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