Medical travel · The complete journey
Every step, from first question to follow-up call.
Seventeen steps in three phases, each with who leads it and when it happens. The clinical decisions stay with your doctors; this is everything that has to happen around them.
Before step one
Three parties, three clear roles.
Most confusion in medical travel comes from not knowing who decides what. Here is the split we work to on every journey.
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You and your doctors
Decide on treatment, choose the hospital and decide when you are well enough to travel each way.
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The treating hospital
Reviews your reports, gives its opinion and estimate, writes the visa letter, treats you and issues the discharge papers.
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Your InfiniaTrips coordinator
Arranges visa checklists, flights, stays, transfers, interpreters and the companion’s needs, and keeps every date in step.
The journey at a glance
Timings marked official come from the Government of India portals; the rest depend on your hospital and your doctors.
| Stage | When | Who leads |
|---|---|---|
| First enquiry | Day one | You |
| Hospital choice and reports | When you are ready | You and the hospital |
| Opinion and estimate | After the hospital’s review | The hospital |
| e-Medical and attendant visas | 4 to 120 days before arrival (official window) | Each traveller |
| Flights and stay | Once admission is confirmed | Coordinator |
| e-Arrival card | Within 72 hours before landing | Each traveller |
| Treatment | As your doctors plan | The hospital |
| Any e-FRRO request | At least two weeks before it is needed (portal advice) | You |
| Return flight | When your doctors clear you | Coordinator |
| Follow-up | After you are home | Hospital and home doctor |
Phase one · From home
Decide, then prepare.
Nothing is booked until you have chosen a hospital and accepted its plan. This phase usually takes the longest, and it is the one that makes everything after it calm.
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Tell us the travel basics
Day oneLeads: You
Start with where you are travelling from, the Indian city you are considering, an approximate month and who would come with you. Mention any help needed at airports, such as a wheelchair. That is all we need at first: no diagnosis, reports or scans.
- Home city and country
- A city in India, or “not sure yet”
- How many companions
- Help needed at airports
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Choose the hospitals to approach
Before anything is bookedLeads: You and your doctor
If you have no hospital in mind, we can share public facts: which hospitals in a city run an international patient desk, and which publish accreditations such as NABH or JCI. We never rank hospitals or favour one on clinical grounds. You and your own doctor decide whom to contact, and you can ask more than one.
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Share reports through a secure channel
When you are readyLeads: You and the hospital
A hospital needs your history and recent results before it can give an opinion. Your reports go to the hospital directly, through a channel it controls such as a patient portal, or through a separate consented channel your coordinator sets up for your case alone. They never pass through our public forms.
- Who at the hospital will see the files
- How long they are kept
- How to withdraw consent later
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Receive the treatment plan and estimate
After the hospital’s reviewLeads: The hospital
The hospital’s doctors reply with their opinion, a proposed plan and a cost estimate. Clinical questions go back to them, not to us. Before accepting, ask what the estimate assumes: nights in hospital, the room category, what is excluded, and how the deposit and final bill work.
- The estimate in writing
- A tentative admission date
- How long to stay nearby after discharge
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Apply for the e-Medical and attendant visas
4 to 120 days before arrivalLeads: Each traveller, with our checklist
Ask the hospital for its letter first: the official portal wants it on hospital letterhead, showing your tentative admission date, name, nationality and passport number. The patient then applies for the e-Medical visa and up to two companions for e-Medical Attendant visas, each completing their own form.
Read the e-Medical visa guide -
Set dates, flights and companion seats
Once admission is confirmedLeads: Coordinator
We plan backwards from the admission date and add rest days after the long flight. Changeable fares come first because treatment dates move. Companions sit with the patient, and wheelchair or boarding help is requested from the airline at booking. The e-Visa rules expect a return or onward ticket, so we pick one you can change.
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Book a stay near the hospital
Alongside the flightsLeads: Coordinator
Stays are shortlisted by real road time to the hospital and checked for what recovery needs: step-free entry, a lift, a bathroom you can use safely and a proper bed for the companion. Terms that let you stay longer without penalty take priority, because recovery rarely keeps to a calendar.
What makes a good recovery stay -
Complete the pre-arrival checks
The final 72 hoursLeads: You
Confirm that every traveller’s ETA shows as granted on the official portal, and print a copy each. Foreign nationals can file India’s e-Arrival card online within 72 hours before landing; it records arrival details and is not a visa. Your document folder goes in hand luggage.
See the four-folder checklist
Phase two · In India
Arrive, settle, be treated.
Once you land, the hospital leads the clinical part and your coordinator handles everything around it, so the patient’s energy goes to treatment and the companion is never on their own.
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Arrive with help already waiting
Arrival dayLeads: Coordinator on the ground
Airline assistance can meet the patient at the aircraft door when requested in advance. At immigration, e-Visa holders give biometrics and have the visa stamped in their passport. Your coordinator meets you after customs and rides with you to the stay in a vehicle chosen for the patient.
How airport transfers work -
Settle in and get connected
The first day or twoLeads: Coordinator
A local SIM comes first. It keeps family in touch, and the e-FRRO portal, which handles any visa service inside India, asks for a valid Indian mobile number for its one-time passwords. Then a short orientation: the route to the hospital, the nearest pharmacy, groceries and where to change money.
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Meet the hospital, with language support
First hospital visitLeads: You, the hospital and your coordinator
Your coordinator can go with you to the international patient desk for registration and introductions. Ask the hospital how it handles interpretation in consultations. For life outside the consulting room, from pharmacy counters to the building manager, we arrange an interpreter in your language where one is available.
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Treatment, led by the hospital
As your doctors planLeads: The treating team
This part belongs to your doctors. Around it, we look after the companion’s meals and rest, laundry, extending the stay when dates move, and updates to family at home only with your permission. We also watch every traveller’s visa dates so nothing runs out unnoticed.
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If treatment outlasts the visa
At least two weeks aheadLeads: You, supported by the hospital
The e-Visa portal describes e-Visas as non-extendable. Any request to stay longer goes to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office through the e-FRRO portal, which advises applying at least two weeks in advance. Tell your coordinator and the hospital’s international desk as soon as a longer stay looks likely.
How e-FRRO works
Your coordinator
One person who knows the whole plan.
A hospital’s international desk looks after the clinical side of your visit. Your coordinator is the other half: the person who knows your flight numbers, your companion’s dietary needs, the stay’s check-out terms and every visa date.
- Reachable on the number you were given from the day you land, with clear escalation when they are off duty.
- Interpreters for daily life arranged in your language where available, alongside the hospital’s own arrangements.
- A shared plan updated whenever the hospital moves a date, so nobody works from an old version.
Phase three · Going home
Recover, then fly.
The return is planned around one decision that only your treating team can make: when you are fit to fly. Until then, flexibility is the whole plan.
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Recover close to the hospital
After dischargeLeads: You, guided by your doctors
Plan to stay near the hospital after discharge so follow-up visits are a short ride away. How long is a clinical decision. We keep the booking flexible, arrange cabs for clinic days and, if your doctors are comfortable with it, can move you somewhere quieter for the final days.
Plan the recovery stay -
Fit-to-fly and discharge papers
Before the return is confirmedLeads: Your treating team
Your doctors decide when you can fly. Ask them for a discharge summary, a medicines list with generic names and doses, and any letter the airline needs, since airlines may want medical clearance after recent surgery. These papers fly in hand luggage, never in the hold.
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Travel home with assistance at both ends
Once you are clearedLeads: Coordinator
We rebook to the date your doctors give, request assistance at both airports and time the transfer from your stay with room to spare. e-Visa holders may leave India through any authorised immigration check post, so the flight home can start from a different city if that suits you.
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Follow-up from home
After you are backLeads: The hospital and your home doctor
Before leaving India, agree how follow-up will work: whether the hospital offers video consultations, who answers questions, and how new results from your home doctor reach the treating team securely. Check the time difference and agree a calling window. If a return visit is needed, we plan it like the first trip.
Questions to settle before you leave
Process FAQ
The journey, questions answered.
How long does it take from first enquiry to travelling?
It depends mostly on how quickly the hospital reviews your reports and offers an admission date. The visa itself can be applied for between 120 days and 4 days before arrival under the official rules. Once a date is fixed, we plan flights and the stay backwards from it, with rest days before admission.
Can I ask more than one hospital before deciding?
Yes. You can request an opinion and estimate from several hospitals and compare them with your own doctor. We book nothing until you have chosen, and the logistics simply follow your decision.
Who speaks to the hospital about my case?
You do, directly. Your coordinator speaks to the international patient desk only about logistics, such as the letter for your visa, admission timing and expected discharge dates, and only with your consent.
What if the hospital moves my admission date?
Tell your coordinator straight away. We move flights and the stay where the fare rules allow, show you any change fees first, and check that the new dates still fall inside every traveller’s visa.
Can I come back to India later for a check-up?
The official portal lists the e-Medical visa as multiple-entry, so a return within its validity may be possible. Check the dates printed on your ETA, and if they have passed, a new application is needed. We plan a follow-up trip the same way as the first.
Do I need to know which hospital I want before contacting you?
No. Many people start with only a city or a month in mind. We can share public information about hospitals with international patient desks, and the choice stays with you and your doctor.
Begin with step one
Seventeen steps. One person keeping track.
Send the travel basics and a coordinator replies with what happens next for your dates.