How Deepak Datta Turned Medical Tourism Into a Global Healthcare Business

So I'm an accidental entrepreneur, but I always had this marketing and sales and business born in me. I did a Master's in engineering from University of Alabama and I joined Texas Instruments. While I was working there, I had this idea of sending patients abroad for medical treatment because I noted that in the United States there was a big population of people who had this challenge of being able to afford medical treatment. 1, 2, 3. Want to attract and convert more leads? Want to learn how digital pr, branding and SEO can establish and build your brand identity? Welcome to the Market Movers Building brands and links With Linkify podcast. We answer these questions and help you ramp up your brand visibility and credibility. Let's cut through the noise and make your business the talk of the town. We're your hosts, Nick and Chris. Let's get this show on the road. Welcome to the Market Movers podcast. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Deepak Dattar, founder of Medical Tourism Corporation and co founder of Gulf Whiz AI. With nearly two decades of experience growing healthcare businesses globally, we are exploring how trust positioning and operational discipline drive patient acquisition and what it takes to build scalable marketing systems in high stakes industries. Welcome to the show, Deepak. Thank you Chris. I appreciate the introduction. I would love to know if you want to just go into a bit more detail on how you got started. If you can condense two decades worth of experience into a nice short intro, that would be awesome. So I'm an accidental entrepreneur. Both my parents were doctors. I just, you know, did engineering in India, finished my engineering and joined a multinational, British multinational by the name of Kelvinator. And so while I was in Kelvinator before that I tried few businesses. After my graduation they were like into selling. I don't know where I got this interest, but I always had this marketing and sales and business born in me. So I tried a business in selling that was related to some special geysers but that the business failed. And then I joined Kelvinator as an engineer. While I was in Calvinator, I prepared to go to the us. I did give my exams and I joined a master's program there. So I did a Master's in engineering from University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. And from there I joined Texas Instruments based out of Dallas. On joining Texas Instruments I still had that interest in business. So while I was working there I had this idea of sending patients abroad for medical treatment because I noted that in the United States there was a big population of people who had this challenge of being able to afford medical treatment, quality medical Treatment. And so while I worked from 8 to 5, 8 to 6 in TI on the side, evenings and weekends, I started building this business project in medical tourism healthcare. It started small with one or two patients going to Mexico, crossing the Texas border. But gradually I saw a big potential in there. It was something I could impact a lot of lives in a positive manner. Could see that, you know, the experience people were having was something that was very satisfying that you know, they could not in many cases have a solution because of lack of insurance or because of lack of, you know, the kind of procedure they wanted be able to afford and going there. And that's how I got started. In between, frankly I did a few more businesses. I'm not mentioning all of them were failures. So I think I learned a lot from failures. Rather I learned most of my things from failures. Medical Tourism Corporation that I, I got started in 2007. I would say I, I had the idea and few things going on in 2006 as well, but 2007 would be the official kickoff. Was able to implement a lot of things I had learned before. So that's how it grew then gradually we had, you know, patients from US and Canada going to different parts of Mexico. And then we, you know, had patients going to Costa Rica and now, you know, around 17, 18 years from then, almost 19 years we have patients from Australia going to Vietnam and Thailand, patients from UK going to Turkey, Croatia and a lot of many other places. So that's what you know, we are. That's my experience with businesses. Recently I got started with the idea of golf and AI. Now this is actually my son who's the co founder with me who's driving the whole thing as an engineer, computer vision engineer. His name is Dhruv. So I'm just kind of helping him with the business side. But he's the person behind this. And then we have a European, former European tour professional, Sanya Sharma, working with us, being a reputed golf coach and also I would say a very competent player as well. So with experience. So we are working on a product of golf and AI where somebody could, you know, anywhere, anytime have golf coaching. They may not even need a ball or a golf club. They could improve their golf game. So we have that, that's the new project I'm involved with on a part time basis. So that's, that's my profession. Yeah, keep you busy. Okay, let's go back to medical tourism then. Because you said you started late 2006, early 2007. You really are a catego leading business. But when you first started, you were really very early into that market. And so you would have seen that like fully mature over the course of the sort of 18 years when you started. It's a really interesting market. What did it look like in terms of those early days with educating people that medical tourism was like a legitimate alternative to high cost medical treatments that were unaffordable, let's say in the States? I mean, it's huge. Now you hear about people going to Turkey. I myself have been involved in medical tourism with, you know, certain parts of my life. But was there an early sort of process of legitimizing it as an industry and what did that look like? Well, yes, around 20 years back, there was a lot of skepticism. People had their doubts and I, I don't blame them for it. People over the years have had really bad experience as well. And so it was a challenge. Besides that, negative news, I think, goes faster, it grows faster, it spreads faster. So negative news spreads faster. So if there's even one or two incidents of people having a bad experience, it becomes a big thing in the media, in the social media and the traditional media and then any. And I believe that any place in the world has good and bad place, you know, safe and unsafe places. Even in New York or New Delhi or Mexico City, there are good places and bad places. So you have to be smart about where to go, when to go, things like that. And so, yes, there was a lot of perception of it being very risky. I think our company has survived for so long and spread, you know, grown. And I believe that now it. That perception, at least for a lot of people who come to us, changes once they come across us. We have a lot of patients history, patients, testimonials and a track record to show. I think one of the causes of poor experiences is also people look for the cheapest deal. And, you know, sometimes you have to be reasonable about that as well. You can be cheap to a certain extent, but then it also has to be matched with minimal quality and safety criteria. So. And that's where medical tourism corporation MTC comes into play. We hand pick and we select hospitals, doctors, clinics, based on them being accredited, based on them having a history of success and happy patients, and also, of course, track record of saving money to our clients. So that, that is something that we are now able to demonstrate to potential clients of ours and become where we are. Yeah, definitely. So how did those early days of growth and what was the growth strategy? How were you attracting those people? What were the strategies and how has that evolved over time. So initially when I got started, as I said, it was a part time venture. I did everything from learning SEO to building a website, to, you know, even calling patients, taking phone calls and everything. And I believe that helped me learn a lot. Because sometimes we see or believe that SEO is the way to go, but I believe a wholesome marketing experience makes a big difference. So being on the phone with customers, knowing their pain points, knowing their challenges, and then going to the ground level, I think that makes a big difference. Rather than just having a great website or just having a great ranking website, that's just small part of the story because that will lead you to just short term gains. You may have people just because of your website or your good ranking, get some leads, but then the long term success comes from repeat business, from a brand. And I think that's where I believe from, from my experience helps a lot. So I think we have built a brand and we are and it's ongoing process where we have to improve, we have to deliver better services. And I think that's what is one of the major things I learned, that it's not just about getting a lead or just getting somebody to fill a form. Yes, all those things are important, don't get me wrong. But then they should be backed by you meeting the promise and you delivering a delightful experience and understanding the pain points of the customers is something that's basic, that helps you do that. Okay, so we'll get more onto brand building as we go through. But now what does the sort of main acquisition channel look like? Is it, is it mainly still from SEO? And if not, where else are the leads coming from? Yes, major part is from SEO and Internet marketing and then also a large part is from repeat customers. Okay, so that repeat customer then is all about everything else. You talked about building a brand positive customer experience. You talk as well about testimonials and reviews. How important is this? And I mean this is overlooked by so many businesses. I think it makes a huge difference. You put an equal amount of effort into the customer experience so that you can garner those positive reviews and have that repeat business alongside the actual acquisition strategy itself then. Yeah, yeah. So another thing about running the business is, you know, keeping the future in mind and being prepared for surprises, of course, positive and negative. And so one of the surprises that we recently had, we had two, two major surprises. And but you know, I think it was a miracle that we survived. One was during the Corona Covid times, people stopped traveling and you know, going abroad for medical treatment. Was the last thing on their mind. No one could have predicted that as well. I bet that you were going out your mind when the lockdown happened. Like that's my entire business. Yes. So that was, you know, quite trying time. And so we, at that time we did what we could to support our team. And a lot of things was we just getting together online and doing trainings or just sharing stuff because there was nothing much to do, frankly. And then that is something I feel was very challenging. But we overcame that. And how did you overcome. How did you overcome that then? Was there a. One of the things was unfortunately we had to let few of our team members go, but the ones that were we could afford to keep. And that was I think more than 50% of the team. We used to have online training sessions, you know, bounce ideas how we could improve when we are back, things like that. So that was one, one thing that we did. And post Covid we had a big rise in volume as well. So although not like earlier times or the losses that we had, but we made up a big part of the loss. Post Covid growth spurred that happened. And so another challenge that we had was a big part of our business was weight loss surgery. Till recently, bariatric surgery, as it's known. And then around two years back, Ozempic, a new drug came and that just overnight, you know, took away almost, I would say 40% of our business because most of the people who were planning to go for bariatric surgery had a better option in Ozempic and GLP1s. So that is another thing. But then fortunately we had the vision earlier to diversify ourselves and we made up by having other verticals like dental and plastic surgery make up for it. Although I still believe because of the loss of bariatric surgery, we have not fully recovered the kind of volumes or revenues we should have. But still we survived and we are doing well. And I'm happy that today's episode is brought to you by Linkify, the digital PR agency that gets brands featured in top publications worldwide. If you're looking to build authority and boost your search rankings with powerful, high quality links, Linkify has you covered. Ready to take your brand to the next level. Visit Linkify IO and let's get you in the headlines. Our team members are happy about it. Well, I'm glad, I'm glad you came through that. I think that's really interesting. I think in the medical space you probably don't see something like the release of such a industry changing medication like the GLP1 Ozempic, weight loss drugs. I don't know how long term sort of safe these things are. Maybe there'll be a renaissance for the surgery over the drugs. We don't know the long term effect. I don't think it's necessarily the ideal alternative option, but we'll see what, what I think is interesting is the how, how much of an impact it can have. So just out of interest, what are the other sort of main drivers of revenue for you in terms of types of surgery? I think you mentioned dental plastic surgery. Is there like, like two or three which drive the bulk of the sales? And then is there anything interesting that potentially is in the works that could, that could come out that could be sort of good for your business in the same way that the GLP1s were detrimental? Could that. Is there a new surgery in the works that could all of a sudden, you know, everybody started getting their teeth done a few years ago, that sort of thing? Yes, so. So you are right. Dental is a big part of our business. Then it's plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, spine surgeries, also I would say stem cell surgeries. Although cells, there are certain procedures that have very good output. And for example, stem cells for orthopedic procedures like knee arthritis has good data and as well as patient, you know, experiences. But then in stem cells there are some places, some specialities where the success rate is not predictable. So stem cells is one that is, I feel still going to be a future and has a lot of potential. As the science gets better and better protocols come. Then I think besides medical tourism of these kind of things, longevity and health, you know, is becoming a big thing. I won't be surprised if there are people flying abroad to get, get such, you know, protocols or support for all such things. Like if you, if you know the famous longevity, you know, Biohacker in the U.S. yeah, the guy wants to live forever. Yeah. I think Brian Johnson. Brian Johnson is the name something like. Yeah. Yes. So he's, he opened his protocol for $1 million per person and within I think few days or few hours he had like 1500 or so people ready to register with him. Don't quote me. My numbers might be a little off, but that's, that's something in the ballpark. You got the name right. Yeah. Brian Johnson wants to biohack his way to immortality. I think that's really interesting actually that. Yeah, the medical tourism industry historically has been people that are looking for treatments that are more affordable so that they can actually access them. So medical treatments can be prohibitively expensive. I am fortunate enough to be from the uk where we have a, you know, a National Health Service, albeit you might have to wait for about 10 years to get the treatment, it isn't going to cost you any money. Whereas in places like the us, if you haven't got the right levels of insurance, then sort of operations that could, you know, can really impact your life could cost thousands and thousands of dollars. So having an equal level of care and success and standard, but being able to access that treatment at a much more affordable price from abroad historically has been something which is very, very appealing to people. But what, what you're saying now is actually people are looking to proactively spend money on not treatments for things that they need treating, but, you know, life extension and all of these things. So that is a whole new potential swathe of business for you, isn't it? Yes. So that's something currently we don't do. But I can see that if somebody were to do it abroad, this may be a big potential for some of these overseas hospitals and doctors, because if, if you're spending a million dollar in the U.S. for that, you may get similar kind of a thing for just 10,000 or 20,000 abroad. So that's one thing. The other things that we do is like liver transplants, kidney transplants, cancer treatments is one that we've had patients go for. And then of course, there are some, like, general surgeries. And unfortunately, like you just mentioned, there are some procedures which are very simple and they should be available in the home countries of most Westerners. I'm really disappointed that even for some simple procedures they have to, you know, fly abroad in some instances. Like what? Like what? Like, you know, knee replacement is something which is very common nowadays. It's not very technical. It should not be requiring people to go abroad for. You already know what kind of population you have, how many knee replacements you would need in your, you know, country on your hospital, but still you are not able to do that. So that's, that's a good example. There have been cases of people even not able to get their CT scan or X rays quickly and on to, you know, short flights in Europe from one place to another to get that. The timing is, the timing is just crazy. I mean, like I said, we're, look, we're in one way we're fortunate in the NHS to have like, our medication paid. I'm type one diabetic, so, you know, my insulin is, is free. But certain things take a long time, like Every year I have to do what's called a HbA1C blood test in order to see what like my sugars have been like over the course of a year. I normally go for the test. They normally tell me, expect the results back in two to three weeks. If you haven't heard, you know, by week four ringus for the results. When I was in Thailand with my wife year and a half ago, I was out there for four months. I got to the point where I needed this HbA1C test because it was, you know, that point in the year. Went to a clinic in Thailand. They said come back tomorrow morning for your results. I just couldn't believe the difference, you know. Yeah. And then some countries first getting an appointment is a challenge and then they won't even share the results with you. You have to just go through a doctor to see those results and they won't share the report with you. I think that's ridiculous considering where medicine is heading. So. Yes, so longevity is one thing. I know we are going on a tangent here, but I believe a lot of proactive anti aging things or protocols will become popular in the next 10 years in the healthcare field. I can see that. Yeah, definitely. Okay Deepak, as we approach the end of this really, really interesting discussion, would you share your thoughts on your industry and the new industry which you've entered in and how AI is going to affect everything? How it is affecting it, how you're using it, if you're liking it, if you hate it, your thoughts, fears. So marketing wise, I think medical tourism, our industry is becoming tougher for sure because people are using AI and that's one thing. But then there is a lot of AI that is being used in healthcare nowadays, even abroad which like for example in dentistry, in planning of different things which I feel can be affordable and be easily accessible for people who cannot get care at their home countries. So I think medical tourism is there to stay. The other thing that I believe that in spite of AI, we have a great future is people are looking for somebody who's trustworthy and has a track record, especially in healthcare. They want somebody in between who can be like a third party. And that's where I think AI is not going to be able to replace. So that's where I believe the future is for Medical Tourism Corporation and mtc. The other business which I am co founding with my son is AI and golf. So this is more like bringing tech into golf, but in a manner which is very affordable. Somebody with a simple mobile phone can download this app, Golfiz AI app and be able to swing in their home anywhere, anytime and know exactly where their golf swing lacks. Now, in addition to that, it also has drills. They are not like just video drills which you see and try to follow. These are interactive drills which you know the AI. It's like a coach standing in front of you and if you do the drill and if you're not following the right manner the drills, it corrects you that, hey, you need to do the drill this way. This is wrong in the drill. So in a live follow along manner, it helps you do the drill. And then after the drill you can come back and of course swing your golf club and have a better swing. Very nice. Initial results have been very positive. I mean people who've tried this has shown great interest and we see a great future for that as well. Although it's a very different field from medical tourism, a lot of business and marketing concepts are very similar. Yeah. Okay, well, the most important question then is, Deepak, do you play golf and has this improved your swing? Yes, I play golf. Golf. It's improved my swing. It's improved my distance as well. There you go. So I'm not sure I should just give. I should boast about it. It may come across as boastful, but yes, it's. That's good to hear. Deepak, this has been absolutely fascinating. If people want to find you or they want to go to either of your businesses, where are the best places they can go? So they can Visit our website, medicaltourismco.com that's medical tourism Corporation website. They can also visit Gulfviz, that's the golfing website. Okay. And if they want to reach you, if you got a good social link they can go to. Yes, we have a great social presence in the Medical Tourism Corporation. We are just getting started with golf is and you should be able to, you know, reach a social in the social platform there as well. Okay, Deepak, thank you so much. I'll be really excited to see how things progress for you over the next 12 months, especially with the Gulf whiz. Thanks for being a great guest. Thank you. Thank you. Enjoyed talking to you and sharing. Have a great day. Bye.