Healthcare will be the source of the next outsourcing boom to India, according to a senior member of the Indian cabinet.

Arun Jaitley, India’s minister for commerce and industry, said that a trend towards seeking medical attention in India – available more quickly and cheaply than the UK – had already begun.

A heart bypass operation, for example, would cost $3,000 and could be performed in a week, he said.

Shifting healthcare offshore follows a series of moves in other industries to source labour abroad.

High street banks Lloyds TSB and HSBC have both recently announced they were moving thousands of jobs to locations in India. Researchers in Delhi believe that the market for moving back office work offshore is growing at a rate of 65% a year.

Julia Fraser, managing director of healthcare recruiter Medics Incorporated, said: “There is increasing globalisation of healthcare. In future, health workers and patients will be more likely to travel in response to shifts in global supply and demand.”