India Medical Tourism: What American Patients Should Know

India recorded 644,387 foreign arrivals for medical treatment in 2024, according to Bureau of Immigration figures the Ministry of Tourism gave India's Parliament in August 2025. That's about 6.5% of everyone who visited the country that year. But 482,336 of those patients came from neighbouring Bangladesh, and the United States isn't among the top five source countries.

So India is a big, busy place to get treated, built mostly around patients from South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. This guide covers what people go there for, how to check who's treating you, what to get priced before you pay, the e-Medical visa, and what to plan for once you're home. One thing up front: JetWell's network doesn't include a clinic in India today, so this is a guide to the country, with no booking pitch attached.

Is India a good place for Americans to get treatment?

India has a large hospital sector with national accreditation, government visa support for patients and prices well below US levels for big operations like knee replacement. The catch for Americans is distance, a Level 2 travel advisory and a higher chance of picking up drug-resistant bacteria in hospital, which the CDC asks US doctors to screen for when you get back.

The State Department rates India at Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, in its June 2025 reissue, citing crime and terrorism. It tells Americans not to travel to Manipur, or to Jammu and Kashmir apart from eastern Ladakh and Leh. It also warns that carrying a satellite phone or a GPS device is illegal in India, which is worth knowing before you pack. None of the big hospital cities sit in the no-travel areas, but read the advisory again the week you fly.

Sources: Ministry of Tourism, Lok Sabha reply, August 2025; Press Information Bureau, May 2026; systematic review of knee replacement costs, 2023; Indian e-Visa portal; US Department of State.

How many people go to India for treatment, and what for?

The numbers dropped hard during the pandemic and haven't fully come back. Medical arrivals ran at 697,453 in 2019, fell to 182,945 in 2020 and climbed back to 659,356 by 2023, the ministry's figures show. A government backgrounder from the Press Information Bureau puts 2025 at 507,244, about 5.5% of all arrivals. Bangladesh supplies most of those patients, so the unrest there in 2024 shows up in the totals: the number of medical visas India issued fell by more than 20% that year, Factly reported from government data.

The same backgrounder lists what patients mostly come for: heart surgery, joint replacement and other orthopaedic work, cancer treatment and organ transplants, along with dental care, fertility treatment and cosmetic surgery. It gives no breakdown by procedure, though, and the ministry says it doesn't track how much money medical visitors spend.

Cost is the obvious pull for Americans. A 2023 systematic review of knee replacement costs found the average was lowest in India, at about $3,457, and highest in the US, at about $19,568, once both were adjusted for purchasing power. Those are research costs, not the package price a foreign patient is quoted, so expect your quote to differ. An older study in Cochlear Implants International (2010) found heart and orthopaedic surgery at Indian centres serving foreign patients often cost a quarter to a third of the US price. If a new knee or hip is what you're weighing, our guides to knee replacement abroad and hip replacement abroad cover the operation and recovery, and our India destination page has the basics.

Who actually treats me in India, and how do I check?

Get the full name of the surgeon or dentist doing your procedure, in writing, along with their registration number, before you pay anything. Every doctor in India has to be registered with a State Medical Council, and the National Medical Commission publishes the Indian Medical Register, which you can search by name, registration number, year or council. The commission also keeps a list of doctors whose registration has been suspended.

The register carries a note that its data is still being updated, so a missing name isn't proof of anything on its own. Ask the hospital for the registration certificate and check that the council and number match. Then email a few questions so the answers are in writing:

1. Will the surgeon named on my quote do the whole operation, or part of it?
2. Which State Medical Council is the surgeon registered with, and under what number?
3. Who looks after me on the ward, and who do I call at night after discharge?
4. Will I leave with my operation notes, imaging and a discharge summary in English?

What is NABH accreditation?

NABH accreditation is India's national hospital accreditation, run by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers, a board of the Quality Council of India. Its hospital standards have been accredited by ISQua, the International Society for Quality in Health Care, according to NABH. The PIB says NABH has accredited more than 1,299 hospitals against more than 600 parameters covering patient care and how a hospital is run.

Some Indian hospitals also hold accreditation from Joint Commission International, the US-based body. Check a hospital on JCI's own directory rather than trusting a logo on a brochure. Our explainer on what JCI accreditation actually means shows what the audit covers. Neither badge tells you who'll hold the scalpel, which is why the register check still matters.

Are there any add-ons once I'm there?

Often, if the quote wasn't itemised. We didn't find an Indian rule that sets what a hospital must include in a package price for a foreign patient, so the quote is only as complete as you make it.

Ask for each of these to be priced separately, in writing: the surgeon's fee, the anaesthetist, the operating theatre, the implant itself (a knee or hip quote should name the implant and its maker), each night in hospital and which kind of room that price assumes, physiotherapy sessions after discharge, medicines to take home and any tests on arrival. If someone is coming with you, ask what their stay on the ward or nearby costs. Then ask what happens to the price if your stay runs two days longer than planned, since that's the line people most often don't see coming.

In JetWell's network, everything on your Care Plan is price-locked and anything not on it is extra. Your deposit isn't refundable, so the Care Plan is the document to read closely before you pay. Our list of questions to ask before booking surgery abroad goes further.

What visa do Americans need for treatment in India?

US citizens can apply online for an e-Medical visa, India's electronic visa for people travelling for treatment. The Government of India e-Visa portal says it's valid for 60 days from your first arrival and allows multiple entries in that time, and up to two e-Medical Attendant visas can be issued against one patient's visa, so a partner and one other person can come with you. You can apply as early as 120 days before you arrive and no later than four days before. The PIB says the e-Medical visa is open to nationals of 172 countries.

Sixty days is enough for most planned operations, but a knee replacement with a slow start to physio can stretch, so ask the hospital how long patients like you usually stay before you book flights. Air India has cut or rerouted several of its US flights in 2026 because of airspace closures, AeroRoutes has reported, so check the routing for your exact dates before you commit. Our guide to passport and visa requirements for care abroad covers what else to sort out first.

Photo by Satyajeet Mazumdar on Unsplash

Marine Drive curves for a few kilometres along the sea in south Mumbai, and early mornings there are full of people out for a slow walk. If you've had a new joint put in, ask your physio how far you're cleared to go before you try it.

What happens if something feels wrong after I'm home?

Call the hospital in India and a US doctor straight away, and tell any US hospital that you were treated in India. The CDC's Yellow Book chapter on care abroad says highly resistant germs, such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and Candida auris, appear more common in some countries Americans travel to for treatment. It asks US clinicians to screen for CRE anyone who stayed overnight in a hospital abroad in the six months before they're admitted.

India is part of that picture. The CDC's 2024 chapter on antimicrobial resistance found the risk of picking up resistant bacteria was greatest after travel to India, Peru and Vietnam. That's no reason to panic about a wound that's healing as expected, but it's a reason to speak up early if it isn't, and to mention the trip every time you see a doctor in those six months.

Line up a US doctor before you leave, and come home with your operation notes, imaging, implant details and a discharge summary in English. Our guides to getting your records from a clinic abroad and finding a US doctor for follow-up go through both steps, and our guide to care abroad for Americans covers the wider picture.

JetWell's network doesn't include a clinic in India today. In JetWell's model you don't pick a clinic off a list. You tell Jett what you want, and JetWell matches you with a clinic in its network, named on your Care Plan. If India is one of the places you're weighing, ask Jett about your options and say what you'd like done.