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

The Indian medical visa

e-Medical Visa

Kenyan passport holders can apply for India's e-Medical Visa online, without attending a mission in person to lodge the application. One oddity to expect when you check the eligibility list for yourself: Kenya is on it twice, at entries 81 and 85. Of the 175 countries listed, Kenya is the only one that appears more than once. It is a clerical slip in the page rather than two different rules, so there is nothing to choose between and nothing to work out. Either entry is your country. The High Commission states that it does not process e-Visas at all: the application, the approval and the payment are all online, and the decision is emailed to the address used on the form. So if an online application stalls, the mission is not the place to chase it, and use an email address you will still be able to reach while you travel.

Apply on the official Indian e-Visa portal

Indian mission

• India has two posts in Kenya, and neither publishes a list of which counties it covers, so we confirm which one handles your application rather than guessing from a map.
• The High Commission of India is at UN Crescent, Gigiri, Nairobi, P.O. Box 30074. Visa enquiries are on +254 731900043, and the mission publishes the hours that line is answered: 12:00 to 13:00, and again 14:00 to 15:00. General enquiries are on +254 733666195 or +254 20 2222567, and visa questions can be emailed to [email protected].
• The Assistant High Commission of India in Mombasa is on the third floor of the Bank of India Building, Nkrumah Road, P.O. Box 90614, telephone +254 41 2224433 or +254 41 2311051. Its counter takes applications and hands back documents between 09:00 and 12:30, and returns passports and other consular documents between 15:00 and 16:00.
• Because the online route is open to Kenyan passports, most patients will not need either post.

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. Two things the mission asks for are easy to overlook until they hold a file up. You will need proof of your relationship to the attendant. And where the patient or an attendant is a child, both parents have to give consent. Apply for the attendants at the same time as the patient rather than afterwards, because the attendant visa depends on the patient's and a late application is what usually leaves a family travelling apart.

Documents

• For the online medical visa the portal asks for the passport bio page, a recent front-facing photograph on a white background, and a letter from the Indian hospital giving the date or expected date of admission, with six months' passport validity and two blank pages.
• If you apply on paper instead, the High Commission publishes one of the fuller checklists we have seen, and it is worth reading before you start: the printed and signed form, with the patient and attendant attending in person; two photographs of 51 mm by 51 mm on a white background, one pasted to the form and one loose; a letter of invitation from the Indian hospital naming the patient and attendants, their passport numbers, the illness, how long treatment will take and what it is expected to cost; the medical records that establish the need for treatment, with a referral letter from your own doctor or hospital; proof that the costs can be met, by way of three months of original bank statements, a salary certificate or a sponsorship or insurance letter; proof of your relationship to the attendant; an undertaking that the visit is for treatment and that you will return home afterwards; both parents' consent for a child; and, for follow-up treatment, the earlier papers and the discharge summary from the Indian hospital.
• Where a bank statement is in someone else's name, the mission also wants a letter of financial undertaking from that person and proof of how they are related to you.
• Two of those documents are the hospital's to produce rather than yours, and both have to reach the mission by email: the letter of invitation with the cost estimate, and the referral. That is the part a patient cannot do alone, and it is what we arrange with the hospital.
• The mission says a paper visa is normally processed in three to five working days, and that it does not start until the bank has confirmed the fee.

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

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi is the gateway for a journey to India, and Moi International Airport in Mombasa is the country's other international airport. We do not list the rest. Kenya Airports Authority's own website could not be read, and the civil aviation authority publishes licensing material rather than a list of passenger airports, so naming more would mean guessing.

Routes to India

• There is a direct flight from Nairobi to Mumbai, flown by Kenya Airways, and the airline says so on its own pages. That puts Kenya in a small group of the countries we work with: one flight, one airline, no change of aircraft.
• For someone who is unwell that matters more than the fare. A single sector means no connection to miss, no second airport to cross, and no risk of being separated from luggage or from an attendant along the way.
• Mombasa has no service to India, so a journey starting there begins with a domestic flight to Nairobi.
• We check the schedules in force with you before you book.

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

Money

Currency

The Kenyan shilling, ISO 4217 code KES, numeric code 404, divided into 100 cents.

Before you travel

Health information

A yellow fever vaccination certificate is mandatory for Kenyan nationals travelling to India, and the High Commission states it in those terms. The vaccination has to be given at least ten days before you travel, at a government-approved clinic, institute or hospital, and the certificate has to be carried with your other immigration documents rather than packed. Ten days is the part that catches people out. If the vaccination has not been done, it has to happen before the final fortnight, not in the week of the flight.

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.