Tripura sits on a major cross-border medical corridor, but turning transit patient flows into a destination economy requires robust healthcare infrastructure and seamless connectivity
Tripura in India’s Northeast shares a border with Bangladesh, the largest source of the country’s medical tourists. India witnessed a 48 percent rise in medical tourists from Bangladesh in 2023 compared to 2022, with an approximate 4.49 lakh people seeking treatment in India. The state functions as a transit point along the medical corridor, with many visitors from Bangladesh entering through Akhaura, passing via Agartala, and continuing to metropolitan centres such as Kolkata, Delhi, and Chennai for treatment. Tripura is therefore already part of the medical tourism economy but has yet to emerge as a destination, despite several advantages, including geographic proximity, cross-border cultural and linguistic similarities, and a ready market characterised by regular patient movement. Developing this sector could, therefore, benefit the state’s economy.
Tourism ministry figures show that medical travel to India has surged, with revenue rising from US$ 3 billion in 2015 to US$ 9 billion in 2020. Tripura’s economy remains dependent on the primary and tertiary sectors, while the secondary sector continues to perform poorly. Manufacturing is weak, industry is limited, and the state remains heavily reliant on central assistance for revenue. In this context, the search for new drivers of growth becomes unavoidable. Medical tourism is an attractive option, as it sits at the intersection of healthcare, transport, logistics, hospitality, local services, and entrepreneurship. It can expand the service economy while strengthening the state’s financial base, generating employment, and enhancing revenue capacity.
Tripura needs a stronger healthcare infrastructure before it can be positioned as a treatment destination.
However, although Tripura’s proximity to Bangladesh results in a steady flow of patients seeking medical treatment, creating sustained demand, the state is not yet able to absorb and retain a sufficient share of this flow. Its prospects for developing medical tourism are therefore real but conditional.
Tripura needs a stronger healthcare infrastructure before it can be positioned as a treatment destination. A 2023 healthcare assessment by Hospaccx, an Indian hospital consultancy firm, reveals that the state faces a deficit of nearly 15,943 hospital beds against the requirement of 21,115, and has only 67 diagnostic centres against a needed 422. For critical care, residents of Tripura therefore continue to travel to Silchar, Guwahati, and Kolkata, highlighting the current limitations of the state’s medical ecosystem and effectively exporting the very demand that medical tourism infrastructure is meant to capture. If patients leave the state for advanced care, medical tourism cannot be built through branding or positioning alone. Assam remains the only Northeastern state with a functional AIIMS, inaugurated in April 2023 at Changsari near Guwahati.
Therefore shortage of multi-speciality and super-speciality hospitals remains the central constraint. Agartala may be among the better-positioned cities in the Northeast, but it still lacks the robust institutional medical base required of a healthcare destination. The presence of only one private super-speciality hospital, with an almost monopolistic position, underscores the fragility of the ecosystem. The absence of an AIIMS-level institution further reinforces this gap. However, the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Government of Tripura and AIIMS New Delhi on October 15, 2025, marked a decisive institutional turning point, as the partnership is specifically aimed at transforming Agartala Government Medical College and GB Pant Hospital into centres of excellence in super-specialty care and medical education aligned with international standards. This AIIMS-anchored transformation holds significant cross-border potential, as once operational, the state can potentially intercept this vast patient corridor and emerge as the Northeast's premier medical tourism gateway.
The future of medical tourism in Tripura, therefore, depends on building treatment capacity; without it, other initiatives are likely to remain aspirational.
Beyond establishing hospitals, the success of medical tourism depends on trust, predictability, and seamless connectivity. Tripura faces significant structural constraints in this regard, including a cost disadvantage arising from its remote location and dependence on the Assam corridor for the movement of goods. Transport costs are high, and the supply of essential goods remains vulnerable to disruption. During the rainy season, landslides and road blockages create shortages and drive up prices. These conditions affect the broader economy, including healthcare.
Tripura’s medical tourism aspirations are therefore closely tied to seamless physical connectivity and reliable, transparent digital systems.
A viable medical hub requires reliable access to medicines, equipment, fuel, consumables, and trained personnel. Such predictability is essential to instil confidence among patients that treatment will not be undermined by logistical fragility. While patients, especially those crossing borders, prefer proximate and affordable destinations, accessibility and institutional reliability also shape their choices.
Tripura’s medical tourism aspirations are therefore closely tied to seamless physical connectivity and reliable, transparent digital systems. This necessitates sustained capital expenditure not only in healthcare infrastructure but also in the broader support ecosystem — including better roads, improved logistics, affordable accommodation, stronger telecommunications, and more robust digital public infrastructure.
Tripura’s medical tourism potential rests on the tangible advantages of its strategic location, an existing flow of patients, and a clear regional need. However, the state still lacks the healthcare capacity and supporting infrastructure required to convert this potential into a durable growth engine. The question, therefore, is whether it can develop a functional medical tourism industry capable of retaining the patient traffic that already passes through it.
The opportunity lies in how the state strengthens its hospital network, connectivity infrastructure, and institutional capacity. Only then can medical tourism move from possibility to policy success.
The opportunity lies in how the state strengthens its hospital network, connectivity infrastructure, and institutional capacity.
A stronger healthcare ecosystem would not only serve foreign patients but also improve access to healthcare within the state for residents and reduce the need for outbound treatment. The economic benefits would be substantial, as medical tourism can generate employment, particularly for youth in healthcare and allied services. It can create new opportunities in logistics, transportation, and local service delivery, and support small entrepreneurs operating in sectors linked to patient mobility and care. It can also strengthen the revenue prospects of local bodies through non-tax channels and tap into foreign exchange earnings from international patients.
If Tripura seeks to transform Agartala from a transit point into a treatment hub, it will need to ensure a seamless patient experience from entry to care. This will require coordination, accessibility, digital tracking, and reliable public systems.
Subhrabaran Das is Head of Economics at Tripura University, specialising in social, gender, and agricultural economics.
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Subhrabaran Das is currently Head of the Department of Economics at Tripura University. Earlier, he was the Joint Secretary of the Indian Econometric Society and ...
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