Indian Health Secretary: Medical tourism is waste of resources if poor not treated

One of the India's top health officials calls medical tourism a "waste of resources" if the money earned by private hospitals is not used to treat the poor. "I am not very keen on medical tourism," said Health Secretary Naresh Dayal. "It's a wastage of resources that I think should be utilized to better the health condition of our own people." Statistics show India's medical tourism market is growing and is expected to become a $2 billion a year business opportunity by 2012.