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Medical Safari

What treatment actually costs

The headline figure is rarely the problem. What catches people out is what sits outside it. This page explains how an Indian hospital builds an estimate and what to check before you book a flight.

An estimate from an Indian hospital is a package quote. It bundles the surgeon, the theatre, a defined number of nights in a defined class of room, and the drugs and consumables used during that admission. Quoted that way it is usually a fraction of what the same procedure costs in the United States, western Europe or the Gulf, and that difference is real rather than a marketing device.

The difficulty is that a package is defined by its edges. Two hospitals quoting for the same operation can differ by a wide margin simply because one included the implant and the other did not, or because one assumed two nights in intensive care and the other assumed none. Comparing the two headline numbers tells you almost nothing.

What is usually in, and what is usually out

This varies by hospital and by procedure. Treat it as the checklist to run against any estimate you are sent, not as a rule.

Normally included

  • Surgeon, anaesthetist and operating theatre charges
  • A stated number of nights in a stated class of room
  • Standard drugs and consumables used during the admission
  • Routine pre-operative investigations and post-operative reviews in hospital

Often excluded

  • Implants, stents, valves and prostheses, which are often the largest single line
  • Intensive care beyond the nights quoted, charged per day
  • Blood products and any unplanned transfusion
  • Treatment of complications, including a return to theatre
  • Accommodation and living costs outside the hospital, for the patient and anyone travelling with them
  • Follow-up once you are home

Common questions about cost

Because we would have to make most of them up. A figure only appears on a treatment page where we hold one from a real source. Publishing a confident number for every procedure looks more helpful, but it sets an expectation the hospital then has to break, and patients arrive having budgeted for the wrong amount.

It holds as long as the clinical picture holds. Estimates are issued on the basis of the reports the hospital was sent, so they change if the diagnosis is revised on arrival, if the procedure turns out to be more complex, or if complications extend the stay. Ask for the estimate to state what it assumes, and what happens if those assumptions do not hold.

Four things. What the implant or device will cost and which brand is being quoted. How many ICU nights are included and the daily rate beyond that. What happens to the price if a complication needs a second procedure. And what the discharge criteria are, since that determines how long you actually stay.

Plan for accommodation for the whole stay in India, not just the hospital nights, for at least one person travelling with the patient, for local transport to follow-up appointments, and for a contingency. The stay after discharge is usually longer than people expect because surgeons want to review before clearing a patient to fly.

No. You pay the hospital directly at the hospital's own rate. Where a hospital pays us a coordination fee it comes out of the hospital's revenue rather than being added to your bill, and we charge patients nothing at any stage.

Treatment pages carry a cost comparison where we hold verified figures. Browse every treatment or send your reports and we will get written estimates from the hospitals that suit your case.

Start with a conversation, not a commitment

Send your reports, or simply describe what you need. A care advisor will come back with hospital options and an indicative written estimate. There is no charge for this and no obligation to proceed.

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