For these reasons, the ministry's idea of allowing deemed export status to such medical tourism is a win-win idea, provided of course uniformly high standards can be offered. The UK is a good example, where the state-funded National Health Service with its long queues is happy to pay for some patients to come and receive treatment in developing countries which can provide the right standard of service. Not to get carried away, but the software industry analogy comes to mind: India could emerge a winner in a hi-tech sector where it obviously has the capacity to provide a service far more cheaply than the rich countries can offer their people. At the very least, it is refreshing that the government is now open to such innovations.

Next, the caveat. The idea is good, and there is no reason why poor overall performance - and it is decidedly abysmal in health care or what passes for it in India - should keep down areas where it is possible for the country to earn good money and offer a useful service, to foreign nationals or its own. Indian patients of at least the beneficiary institutions will benefit. That said, the health ministry had better not act as anything more than a facilitator, providing no more than an encouraging policy framework and regulatory environment for private institutions. And unless it wants to invite jeers, it ought to pay more attention to the plight of Indians who cannot get decent treatment for love or money.