Medical Tourism can be simply defined as the phenomenon of people travelling outside their country for medical, surgical or dental treatment.

The concept of Medical Tourism is not new. It has been there for ages. The Ancient Greeks were the first to lay the foundation for a comprehensive medical tourism network. In the honour of their God of medicine, Asclepius, the Greeks erected the Asclepia Temples, which became some of the world's first health centers. People from all over the traveled to these temples to seek cures for their ailments.

The phenomenon continued for centuries. Traditionally people travelled from less developed countries to more developed countries for better medical facilities, but the last couple of decades have seen a great shift in the phenomenon. Now, people from developed countries also travel to developing countries in great numbers.

This is mainly because of low cost of treatment in countries like India. Medical tourism in India is now a billion dollar industry and is expected to bring in $8 billion by 2020.