NRIWallah team
Updated
September 2026
· 4 min read
The operation itself is much cheaper in India, often a fraction of the US price and well under the UK private price, sometimes for the same implant from the same manufacturer. But the saving you actually keep depends on the size of the procedure, because the flights, the weeks of accommodation and the time off cost the same whether you are having one tooth done or a whole jaw.
Why the percentage misleads
The surgical fee grows with the procedure. The journey does not: a return flight to Delhi, the room you stay in and the week off work cost the same either way. That fixed overhead, somewhere between £2,000 and £8,000 depending on how long you stay and whether someone travels with you, sits on top of every trip.
Take dental implants. A single implant at around £2,700 in London might cost £520 in a good Indian clinic, but conventional implants need a second trip months later for the crown, and two return flights wipe out the saving. A full arch at around £18,500 in London might cost £4,200 at the same clinic, with the same travel bill, and you keep most of the £14,000 difference.
The tool above prices the whole journey, not just the operation, and shows how much of the advertised saving the journey takes back.
How long you have to stay
After a hip or knee replacement, NHS guidance is to avoid long-haul flights for around three months unless your surgeon clears you, usually with blood-thinning cover. Major surgery raises the risk of a clot, and so does a long flight; together the risk is higher still.
Surgical packages do not include twelve weeks of accommodation. If you can stay with family, most of that cost disappears, which is why the numbers often work for NRIs when they do not for other medical travellers. If you cannot, twelve weeks in a serviced apartment can cost more than the operation. The tool asks you to choose between staying until you are cleared to fly and flying earlier, and shows what each costs.
Where India is strong
High-volume Indian cardiac and orthopaedic units operate at a scale few Western hospitals match, and volume is one of the few things that reliably tracks surgical outcomes. Coronary stent prices are capped by regulation. What you are not paying for in India is the cost structure of the health system around the operation.
The good units are a minority, though. Only a small share of Indian hospitals hold JCI or NABH accreditation, so check it on the accrediting body’s own register, not the hospital’s website. Then ask two questions: how many of this operation the unit does each year, and what its complication rate is. A good unit will answer both.
What the calculator cannot price
- Recourse. Medical negligence claims in India go mainly through the consumer protection commissions. They are slow, awards are small by UK or US standards, and pursuing one from abroad is hard. Decide whether you would still go if you had no practical remedy.
- Continuity of care. The surgeon who operates is not the doctor who sees you four months later. Before you leave hospital, collect the discharge summary, the operation note, the implant details with lot number, the imaging and a full list of medicines, in English.
- Your family’s time. The numbers work partly because relatives provide a place to stay, lifts and care, often relatives who are themselves getting older. Ask them properly rather than assuming, and consider paying for an attendant.
Using the results
This is a planning tool, not medical advice or a quotation. It cannot tell you whether an operation is right for you or whether you are fit to fly; ask a doctor who has examined you and has no financial interest in where you are treated. Replace every Indian figure with a written quotation, and get a second opinion at home before booking. Check what your health cover pays for first, and if you are thinking further ahead, see what medical costs look like in an Indian retirement. If you are travelling anyway, the trip cost calculator covers the rest of the journey.
