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

The Indian medical visa

e-Medical Visa

Zambian passport holders can apply for India's e-Medical Visa online, without attending a mission in person to lodge the application. Zambia is entry 174 on the official eligibility list. Applications are made on the official e-Visa portal, and the letter from the Indian hospital is part of the file from the start. The decision is emailed to the address used on the form, so use one you check and can still reach while travelling.

Apply on the official Indian e-Visa portal

Indian mission

• The High Commission of India in Lusaka serves Zambia.
• No. 1 Pandit Nehru Road, Longacres, P.O. Box 32111, Lusaka.
• The switchboard is on +260 211 253159 and +260 211 253160. For consular and visa questions the mission gives 0771262129 and 0978584122, or you can write to [email protected].
• Because the online route is open to Zambian passports, most patients will not need to attend at all. We confirm the current details with the mission before anyone travels to it.

Travelling with a family member

Two family members may travel with you, each on an e-Medical Attendant Visa that is tied to your own medical visa. Both applications are made on the same portal, and every traveller needs their own, children included. Put the attendants in at the same time as the patient. Their visas hang off yours, so an attendant applied for late is the single most common reason a family ends up on different flights — and with one change at Entebbe on this routing, being separated mid-journey is worse than it sounds.

Documents

• Because Zambian passports qualify for the online route, the file is the portal's: your passport bio page, a recent front-facing photograph against a white background, and the letter from the Indian hospital on its letterhead stating when you are expected to be admitted. The passport must have six months left and two blank pages, and the portal asks for a return or onward ticket and evidence you can cover the costs.
• The High Commission in Lusaka publishes its visa material for the paper categories rather than a medical checklist we could read, so we confirm the list in force with it and give you that, instead of handing you a general list and leaving you to work out which lines apply to treatment.

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

Zambia's airports corporation names four international airports: Kenneth Kaunda, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula and Mfuwe. Kenneth Kaunda, at Lusaka, is the one that matters for a journey to India. It is where the connection we have been able to verify begins.

Routes to India

• There is no non-stop flight from Zambia 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, and that is worth looking for. Uganda Airlines serves both Lusaka and Mumbai from its base at Entebbe, so one airline can carry you the whole way with a single change. 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 Nairobi or the Gulf, may suit a date better.
• We check the routings and 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 Zambian kwacha, ISO 4217 code ZMW, numeric code 967, divided into 100 ngwee.

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.