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

The Indian medical visa

Applying for a medical visa

Passport holders from this country are not on India’s e-Visa list, so a medical visa is applied for on paper at the Indian mission.

Indian mission

• There are two Indian posts in Nigeria, and which one handles your application is decided by where you live rather than by which is nearer.
• The Consulate General of India in Lagos covers sixteen states: Lagos, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, Anambra, Bayelsa, Ondo, Ebonyi, Cross River, Osun, Enugu, Delta, Oyo, Imo, Edo and Rivers. It is at 8A Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos, telephone 01-2627680.
• The High Commission of India in Abuja covers the rest of the country. It is at 364 Cadastral Zone, Central Business Area, FCT Abuja, telephone +234 7080622800 to 4.
• The two keep different counter hours, and both windows are short. Lagos receives applications from 09:00 to 11:00, Monday to Friday, and returns passports from 15:00 to 16:00. Abuja receives them from 10:00 to 12:00 on working days.
• Check which post covers your state before you set out for either one. A journey to the wrong counter costs a day, and the application still has to be made at the right post.

Travelling with a family member

Two people may travel with you as medical attendants. Nigeria has no online visa route, so an attendant's visa is a paper application made alongside yours, at the same post. Neither post publishes a separate attendant category that we have been able to read, so we confirm the terms in force with the post handling your file and prepare both applications together. Apply for the attendants at the same time as the patient rather than afterwards. An attendant's application that lags behind the patient's is the usual reason a family ends up travelling separately.

Documents

• Nigerian passports are not on India's online medical visa list, so this is a paper application. The form is completed on a website, then printed, signed and handed in at the counter in person, with biometrics. It is easy to read "complete the form online" as meaning the whole application is made online, and here it is not.
• Abuja publishes its own document list for a medical visa, which is more than many missions do: a passport valid for six months or more; two photographs, 50 mm by 50 mm; the completed form, printed and signed; a referral letter from a Nigerian hospital; an invitation letter from the Indian hospital; bank statements showing you can meet the cost of treatment; and your medical records from Nigeria.
• Two additions apply to particular patients. If you are returning for follow-up, bring the discharge summaries from the earlier admission. If the treatment is a transplant, bring the donor and recipient compatibility reports, because a transplant file without them is incomplete before it is read.
• The fee is US$ 588, which includes a US$ 3 Indian Community Welfare Fund levy. Lagos states that fees are paid in naira, in cash or by bank transfer. We confirm the amount in force with the post before you pay anything.
• The list above is Abuja's own. We confirm the list in force at the post handling your application and give it to you before you 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

Nigeria's airport authority lists five international airports: Murtala Muhammed in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe in Abuja, Mallam Aminu Kano in Kano, Port Harcourt, and Akanu Ibiam in Enugu. Lagos is the one that matters for a journey to India. Its international terminal runs 24 hours a day, and the connection we have been able to verify leaves from there. If you live in Abuja's consular area you will still deal with the High Commission there for the visa, but look at flights from Lagos as well as from Abuja when the travel is booked. The visa and the flight do not have to start in the same city.

Routes to India

• There is no direct flight from Nigeria to India, and Nigeria's own carrier does not serve the country: Air Peace's booking system sells no Indian destination, and its network reaches London and the Caribbean but nothing further east.
• The routing we could verify end to end goes through Nairobi, with both legs sold by Kenya Airways: Lagos to Nairobi, then Nairobi to Mumbai. Both legs on one airline is worth looking for. If the first flight runs late, the connection is the same carrier's responsibility, which is not the case when a journey is pieced together from two separate tickets.
• Other connections, through the Gulf or through Addis Ababa, may well exist, but we could not confirm them on an airline's own pages, so we do not name them here.
• 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 Nigerian naira, ISO 4217 code NGN, numeric code 566, with two minor units.

Before you travel

Health information

Two vaccination requirements apply to travellers leaving Nigeria for India, and the High Commission states both. Polio vaccination is mandatory for residents of Nigeria travelling to India, by oral polio vaccine or IPV. The requirement has been in force since 1 March 2014, and the certificate is valid for one year from the date it was given, so it has to be current on the day you travel. Carry it with you. Yellow fever vaccination is compulsory for everyone except infants under six months old. Neither is a formality that can be arranged in the last week before a flight. Arrange both early, and keep the certificates with the passport rather than in the luggage.

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.