Treatment at hospitals in India: a guide for patients in Ghana

The Indian medical visa

e-Medical Visa

Ghanaian passport holders can apply for India's e-Medical Visa online, without attending the High Commission in person to lodge the application. Ghana is entry 59 on the official eligibility list. The High Commission still publishes its own paper-visa requirements, and they are worth reading even if you apply online, because the vaccination paperwork it asks for is more specific than the portal's.

Apply on the official Indian e-Visa portal

Indian mission

• The High Commission of India in Accra covers Ghana, and its consular jurisdiction is the whole country, so there is no second post and no question of which one to use.
• It is at No. 9 Ridge Road, Roman Ridge, P.O. Box CT-5708, Cantonments, Accra. The mission publishes directions as well as an address: it sits near the M-Plaza Hotel at Roman Ridge, on the corner to the left at the road junction immediately after the hotel.
• One thing to know before you try to ring: the High Commission publishes no consular telephone number, and asks that all official contact be made by email, at [email protected]. When you write, give the applicant's name and address, the passport number and the web file number, because that is what it asks for.
• Because the online route is open to Ghanaian passports, most patients will not need to attend at all.

Travelling with a family member

Two family members may come with you, each on an e-Medical Attendant Visa tied to your own medical visa. They are applied for on the same portal, and every person needs a separate application, including children. Apply for the attendants at the same time as the patient rather than afterwards. The attendant visa depends on the patient's, so a late application is the part most likely to leave a family travelling apart.

Documents

• The portal asks for the passport bio page, a recent front-facing photograph on a white background, and a letter from the Indian hospital on its letterhead giving the date or the expected date of admission, with six months' passport validity and two blank pages.
• The High Commission asks for more, and one item stands out: an original yellow fever vaccination certificate, not a copy, as part of the application itself. It also asks every applicant to include a photocopy of the passport's bio data page and of its yellow fever page. Of the countries we work with, Ghana is the one where the vaccination paperwork is an itemised part of the visa file rather than only something checked on arrival.
• For a medical application it also asks for a reference letter from the doctor or hospital treating you in Ghana, or who referred you to India; a copy of the confirmation letter from the Indian hospital offering the treatment; and your bank statement.
• The invitation letter has to reach the mission directly from the Indian hospital by email, not through you. That is the part a patient cannot do alone, and it is what we arrange with the hospital.
• The mission's general list also asks for a letter of introduction from an employer, which does not fit every patient's circumstances. We confirm the list in force for a medical application and give it to you before you apply, rather than leaving you to work out which lines apply.

Visa rules differ by country and change often. Once a partner hospital accepts your case we arrange the hospital’s invitation letter and check the current rules with you before you apply.

Getting to India

Airports

Ghana's airport company lists six airports: Accra International in Greater Accra, Prempeh I International in Ashanti, Tamale International in the Northern Region, and the airports at Sunyani, Wa and Ho. Three of them carry "International" in the operator's own naming: Accra, Prempeh I and Tamale. Accra is the one that matters for a journey to India. It carries the long-haul traffic, and the connections we have been able to verify leave from there.

Routes to India

• There is no non-stop flight from Ghana to India that we could confirm on any airline's own pages, so expect to change aircraft at least once.
• One routing does verify on a single carrier, which is worth looking for. Uganda Airlines serves both Accra and Mumbai from its base at Entebbe, so one airline can carry you the whole way with a single change. That matters more than it sounds: when both legs are on one ticket and the first runs late, the connection is the airline's responsibility rather than yours.
• We do not describe the second leg as a non-stop flight, because the airline publishes no schedule or routing for it that we have been able to read. Other connections, through the Gulf or East Africa, may well suit a date better.
• We check the routings and the schedules in force with you before you book, rather than naming one here that may have changed by the time you travel.

Before you travel, check your own government’s current travel advice and your airline’s flight status.

Money

Currency

The Ghana cedi, ISO 4217 code GHS, numeric code 936, divided into 100 pesewas.

Treatments we coordinate

Our partner hospitals treat these conditions, among others. Where hospitals publish their own prices we show an indicative range; otherwise ask us for an estimate.

• Heart surgery
• Cancer treatment
• Orthopedics and joint replacement
• Spine and neurosurgery
• Kidney care and transplant
• Liver transplant
• Bone marrow transplant
• IVF and fertility treatment
• Neurology
• Eye surgery
• Cosmetic and plastic surgery
• Bariatric (weight-loss) surgery
• Dental care

Don't see your treatment? Send us your reports and we will ask the right specialists at our partner hospitals.

How it works

1. Send your medical reports.

   Share your reports and scans with us on WhatsApp, by email or through our form. Your doctor can also send them to us.

2. Receive a specialist opinion and cost estimate.

   Specialists at our partner hospitals review your reports. We send you their opinion, the treatment they recommend and a clear cost estimate.

3. We arrange your travel.

   We arrange the hospital's invitation letter for your medical visa and help you with flights, accommodation and airport pickup.

4. Treatment, return home and follow-up.

   We support you during treatment and recovery in India, and we stay in touch after you return home.

Our partner hospitals

We work with partner hospitals across India. Their specialists review the medical information on this website and discuss cases with referring doctors.

• Manipal Hospitals, Bengaluru / Pune / Gurugram / DelhiJCI-accredited
• Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune
• Jehangir Hospital, Pune
• Ramaiah Hospital, BengaluruJCI-accredited
• Kauvery Hospital, BengaluruJCI-accredited
• Aster Medicity, BengaluruJCI-accredited
• Fortis Hospitals, Bengaluru / Gurugram / NoidaJCI-accredited
• Apollo Hospitals, Bhopal / Bengaluru / Delhi / ChennaiJCI-accredited
• Medanta
• Artemis Hospitals

Talk to us about treatment in India

Send us your medical reports whenever you are ready, or ask us a question first. Coordination is free for patients.

For referring doctors

If you refer patients for treatment in India, we work alongside you. You submit the case through our online case form, and a specialist from our partner hospitals can discuss it with you by video call on request. We keep you informed during your patient's treatment and after they return home, so you can continue their care.