Medical Tourism in the Near

Future
We as futuristic citizens…

Prepared by: A. Olivares

What can you imagine to Medical Tourism
five (5) years from now?
Robots will be our Doctors?
• Robotics and artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the global

healthcare ecosystem and is poised to create a greater impact on the global

medical tourism sector.  

• AI (Artificial Intelligence) in the most sophisticated form has been entwined

in our daily lives, which is also influencing our healthcare choices and

decision making.

• To meet the medical requirements of the swelling population of patients

beyond the borders satisfying them with the best treatment outcome,

leading healthcare organizations in 

emerging medical tourism destinations are introducing robotics and

AI in the healthcare support system in the best possible manner.

Robotics in surgery is in practice since 30
years and has almost reached the zenith
performing high precision critical
operations. But the future robots with
intelligence would do something more
beyond the operating room.
Leveraging machine learning, NLP (Natural
Language Processing) and artificial
intelligence, the next gen Robotics would
help the healthcare organizations in better
patient handling enhancing the patient
experience by several degrees.
Future prospects of AI in
robotics
• Da Vinci robotics has already been
creating waves in healthcare industry
performing a wide range of critical
surgeries and is the leader in the
domain of minimally invasive robotic
assisted surgery. This robot has
performed 400,000 surgeries in USA
since 2012. Smarter AI loaded
robotic applications are in the
pipeline opening avenues for smarter
diagnosis and fast treatment actions.
• In medical tourism, professional efficiency, time and cost
saving play a big role and naturally implementation of robotics with
AI makes great sense.

•Handling patients from abroad is not easy as they always seek value
for money. Therefore, patient care and quality service
delivery are important drivers of medical tourism.

•Medical travelers do look for cost savings but not without the
required care. AI induced robotic assisted surgery helps in getting
things done faster with the highest level of accuracy.
Robotic assisted clinical assessments :
take much less time and pave way for many patients avail the quality
treatment
can assist a doctor or surgeon in faster decision making saving valuable
time.
surgeries are minimally invasive involving minimum pain and recovery
time. The patient is on his/her feet in few days.
further helps in faster disengagement of the patient from the hospital.

For example, critical surgeries like removal of tumors and fibroids are
performed with robotic assisted surgeries with utmost accuracy leaving the
organ intact. Along with the cost savings, medical tourists look for such great

treatment outcomes and fly back home fully satisfied.

Improving hospital
safety standards
Medical tourism increases the risk of hospital acquired
infections (HAI). Many abroad patients dwell in
apprehension of carrying back such infections back home. 
Incidences of HAI do not augur well for the future of a
healthcare organization.
Robotics can be used in better disinfection of
hospitals and clinics and improve their safety
standards. Applying high intensity ultraviolet light, these
specially designed cleaner robots can destroy the cellular
structure of micro-organisms effectively than any manual
labor.
UAE installs robots that checks symptoms,
sanitizes and sterilizes indoor spaces

•Chances of infections will be with us even with the waning of Covid 19.
Medical tourism will focus more on minimal contacts and UAE has ramped
up their robotic skills. The Emirati innovator Al Mazroiei has come up
with a sterilization robot that be remotely controlled from 3 km distance. It
can hold sufficient battery charge to last for 10 hours and can do effective
sterilizing.
•Not only UAE, similar robotic applications are widely been used in Covid
hospitals in China, India and many other countries to deliver food,
medicines and other supplies preventing frontline healthcare workers from
frequent exposure to pandemic. Hospital safety standards are likely to be
heightened in post-Covid healthcare and when it comes to the safety
concern of foreign patients, robots can offer the best solution.
Scared of injections?
Try robotic pills.
Pain management and reducing illness-related discomforts of patients
are two main objectives in improving patient experience in medical
tourism. When patients are traveling beyond the border investing
valuable dollars in top class treatments, healthcare providers are
adopting cutting-edge technology in improving patient experience.
Robotic pills can provide an alternative way of painful injections and
also help in better disease management.
Rani Pill – a novel approach
in bio-therapeutics:
The robotic pill is set to overcome one of the toughest challenges in
drug delivery offering by switching to painless mode from the painful
one.
The inventors are highly optimistic in achieving a new milestone with
robotic pills. These pills will also be used to treat cancer and Crohn’s
disease as well.
Rani Therapeutics, the San Jose based startup is receiving huge
fundings. The recent funding it received amounted to $43 million with a
cash haul of $142 million since the pill was created in 2012 in the Incube
lab. The company is getting a strong backing from Alphabet’s Google
Ventures and other pharma giants such as Novartis and Astra Zeneca.
CONT…

The CEO of Rani Therapeutics, Mir Imran, is clear on the mission to

adopt a non-invasive approach to deliver biologics in the most convenient
way irrespective of its molecular weight and structure, so as to improve
the quality of life of millions. Currently, this robotic pill is still in the pre-
clinical trial phase and is yet to be tested on humans. Hopefully, in the
next 2-3 years, it will be available in the market. Rani Pill is expected to
function effectively with small molecules, therapeutic peptides, proteins,
antibodies, and nucleotides. The materials used are FDA approved and
safe for ingestion. Moreover, the low cost of materials makes it possible
for high volume manufacturing.
How do the robotic pills
work?
A prototype robotic pill is loaded with a drug and coated with fine micro-
needles made from sugar of specific length and diameter.
As you take the pill, it passes through the gastrointestinal tract and
stomach without being affected by acids and enzymes and enters the small
intestine.
The gradual peristaltic movement helps the pill pass through the intestine
and at a desired pH level, the outer case of the capsule dissolves exposing
the needles to the intestinal lining.  
A valve releases carbon dioxide through the fusion of two preloaded
chemicals in the pill forcing the needles to inject the drug into the intestine
wall.
Kindly play for addt’l reference.
Demonstrating a superior knowledge and expertise:
The manner by which the Rani Pill positions itself to inject the drug into
the intestinal wall reveals a sound knowledge and expertise in material
science engineering of the team behind the creation of this magical
capsule.

Things to consider:

While this robotic pill seems to put an end to painful injections, few
questions are still left to be answered:
How long will the pill take to release the drug?
Will it be suitable for patients with gastrointestinal ailments and erratic
peristaltic movement?
If there is any delay in drug release due to erratic peristalsis, what would
be the possible effect?
What medicine or operation under medical
tourism can you formulate/ improve if you’ve
given a chance to do so?