Kochi: Tourism Director B. Suman has said the government is in the process of considering giving accreditation to dental clinics in the state.

Most of the clinics in the state do not come under the purview of National Accreditation Board for hospitals.

Mr. Suman was speaking after presenting ISO 9001-2000 certification from BVIQ to Dr. Rajkrishnan’s dental clinic, a multi-specialty dental care centre in Tripunithura, here on Saturday.

Dental clinics like Dr. Rajkrishnan’s played a major role in promoting health tourism, the Tourism Director said. It was estimated that nearly 50,000 tourists came to the state for medical reasons alone. Dr. Rajkrishnan said the clinic was in the process of getting accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals.

The clinic practiced a quality management system based on continuous learning, reviews, corrective actions, and preventive measures.

He said that the clinic was a member of Health Tourism Promotion Committee under the Kerala Tourism Development, Confederation of Indian Industry and the Kerala Travel Mart. The clinic was catering to quality conscious clientele mainly from the developed countries. Foreign patients accounted for nearly 30 percent of the total clientele. Dr. Rajkrishnan said that some of the dental clinics in Kerala were capable of giving the world class facility to foreign patients who combined business with pleasure. Those who come for Ayurvedic treatment used the leisure time for dental check up too, as it was cost effective and quick too.

According to CII Kerala President Navas Meeran, there was a plan to develop Kerala as the top destination for medical tourism