Sri Lanka’s plus in Ayurveda for medical tourism

Sri Lanka is today vying to market the destination for medical tourism to attract travellers seeking remedies and recovery on this island nation, but unique to its culture is the Ayurveda system of traditional medicine already promoted in Europe by Siddhalepa and eyeing the Asian market next year.

Medical tourism is important because Sri Lanka has the expertise, resources and the base that accrues to the economy, Siddhalepa Group of Companies Managing Director Asoka Hettigoda told the Business Times in an interview at his office in Mt. Lavinia.

He noted that today large elderly populations in Europe and Japan together with younger people who do not like the use of chemicals are attracted to Ayurveda.

Commenting on the surge in Chinese and Indian travellers that could be drawn to this form of medicine, he noted that these visitors were already aware of this and in this respect, it was necessary to attract the right segment of the people “maybe those from North (India).”

Since Indians are vegetarians and their mythology indicate that medicines were mainly found in Sri Lanka they would be convinced of the remedial benefits of this type of traditional healing methods in Ayurveda.

In addition, the Chinese have their own system of medicine and as a result “we need to offer them this (Ayurveda) and promote the benefits of it,” Mr. Hettigoda explained.

It was pointed out that they already believe in natural traditional things and now the country needs to market Ayurveda that would become a win-win situation for both.

In this respect, the government should be involved in a concerted effort to promote Ayurveda, Mr. Hettigoda explained adding that Sri Lanka already generates about 150,000 visitors seeking Ayurveda remedies to close to 150 Ayurveda centres in the country.

The MD noted that Siddhalepa currently has about 40 doctors, plantations for herbs, therapists training centre to promote the Ayurveda system of healing.

He noted that they were interested in doing more in this area of education to spread the knowledge of Ayurveda to locals and foreigners.

Siddhalepa currently attracts a large number of European visitors to their practice of healing as a result of which the company has already established Ayurveda centres in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In fact the company has also registered itself with health insurance companies in Sri Lanka and some in Europe as well where their services have gained acceptance, Mr. Hettigoda explained.

Siddhalepa aims at becoming the leader in branding Ayurveda internationally as a destination and with renewed focus would be opening its next hotel Anarva, Mt. Lavinia in proximity to its Ayurveda Hospital in Mount Lavinia with a capacity of 98 rooms at an investment of over Rs.2 billion.

Targeting the business traveller and other short term visitors interested in obtaining Ayurvedic treatment has already attracted guests for the winter, the company said.

Travellers also have the option of staying on the beach at the Siddhalepa Ayurveda Resort in Wadduwa where they also hope to attract West Asian holidaymakers during the summer months.

Mr. Hettigoda observed that this would provide for bringing out a “rejuvenated person” since the focus of Ayurveda is for a holistic lifestyle.

He believes that since this is not marketed correctly in the West Asia there needs to be efforts made to attract these tourists for whom the Ayurvedic lifestyle would “fit in well with their culture.”

Highest arrivals have been recorded from India and China and these markets are those that are convinced about the benefits of traditional medication through herbal remedies.

Mr. Hettigoda explained that the government needs to give this industry a push to promote Ayurveda that is unique to this destination for medical tourism to take root here.

“Government must recognize that this is a key area of potential and like promoting garments they need to do the same with Ayurveda as with very little investments it can grow,” he asserted.

Further he pointed out that Sri Lanka needs to create its own accreditation in this respect as Sri Lanka has the necessary skills and as a result must take leadership to create the required standards.

This would also contribute towards preserving Sri Lanka’s heritage, the Siddhalepa group MD said.

The company today has joined with Shangri-La Hambantota to open a centre for the hotel’s spa facility to avail travellers of the local healing powers.

“They (Shangri-La) selected our company to partner. We will work with other top brands because of our experience in operating centres internationally,” Mr. Hettigoa said.

Next year and later Siddhalepa would focus on its growth plans in Asia and South Asia as they have already captured the European market that prefers a zero fragrant traditional treatment with no use of chemicals or colours.

Sri Lanka currently has close to 16,000 traditional doctors and about 9000 Ayurveda doctors graduating from the government-run medical facilities with each doctor having their own formulas and intellectual property rights and traditional practices.

“We have a competitive advantage in Ayurveda,” he explained adding that yoga and meditation were also promoted in addition to fresh air that should also be marketed.