Medical treatment in India from Fiji

Plan for the distance

This is the second longest journey of the nine countries we cover, and it shapes every other decision. Two implications worth acting on.

Do as much as possible before you fly. Send scans and reports for review, get the opinion, get the written estimate, and settle the treatment plan while you are still at home. Arriving to be assessed from scratch wastes the most expensive part of the trip. Where a diagnosis is not yet firm, expect that establishing it takes days and build that in.

Try to travel once. If you need two joints replaced, ask about doing both on one trip: two knees are an indicative $6,200 against $3,700 each, and from Fiji the saving on the second set of flights and accommodation dwarfs even that. The same logic applies to combining a health check or a diagnostic work-up with treatment you are already coming for, and to an accompanying relative having their own check while they are there.

Getting there

From Nadi, routings typically go via Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney or Auckland, with at least one connection and a long total journey time. Check whether transit points require their own visa. If you are travelling after surgery, the flight home needs planning with your surgeon rather than around a ticket, and the clot risk on a journey this long is a genuine consideration to raise before discharge.

Airline routes, mission locations and visa requirements change. Everything on this page is an orientation, not a timetable: confirm current routes with the airline and current visa requirements with the Indian mission before you book anything.

What Fijian patients travel for

• Cardiac surgery. Bypass surgery from an indicative $4,600 and angioplasty from $3,800. Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in Fiji and much of it is driven by diabetes.
• Kidney transplant. At $12,500, with a living near-relative donor, and only under the donor rules. Diabetic kidney disease is a major cause of kidney failure in Fiji, and transplant offers a better life than long-term dialysis for suitable patients.
• Diabetes-related care. Including retinal screening, kidney function testing and foot assessment. See also vascular surgery, where limb salvage can sometimes prevent an amputation that has been recommended.
• Joint replacement, knees from $3,700 and hips from $4,500.
• Cancer, particularly where specialised radiotherapy or newer drug treatments are involved.

The diabetes thread

A large share of what Fijian patients travel for traces back to diabetes: heart disease, kidney failure, eye damage and foot complications. That is worth naming, because it means several of the highest-value things you can do on a trip are cheap and preventive rather than surgical.

If you are coming for something else, or accompanying someone who is, ask for a dilated retinal examination, kidney function with urine protein testing, and a proper foot examination. Those three prevent the complications that later require the expensive treatments listed above. And where type 2 diabetes coexists with significant obesity, weight loss surgery at an indicative $6,000 frequently puts the diabetes into remission.

Visa and documents

India maintains a High Commission in Suva. The medical visa follows the hospital's invitation letter. Apply for a medical attendant visa for your companion at the same time, and given the journey length, do not book flights until the visas are issued. See our medical visa guide.

What to bring

• Scan images as DICOM files, not only reports
• Previous discharge summaries, and for diabetes, your HbA1c history
• Current medicines in original packaging, with generic names listed
• Dialysis records and access history if you are on dialysis
• Enough medication for the whole trip plus a margin, given the distance home

Money

Hospital bills are settled in Indian rupees or in US dollars depending on the hospital. The Fijian dollar is not convertible in India, so plan on transferring funds or carrying US dollars rather than expecting to change money on arrival. Ask the hospital's international patient office which payment methods they accept before you travel, and be aware that international card limits catch people out when a large deposit is requested. Arranging a bank transfer in advance is usually simpler than everything else.

Budget beyond the package price. Every cost table on this site excludes flights, visa, accommodation outside the hospital stay, pre-operative investigations and treatment for complications. Build in a contingency, because the most common reason a trip becomes stressful is a stay that runs longer than planned.

After you go home

This is the part of medical travel that most often goes wrong, and it is entirely preventable. Before you leave India, make sure you have your discharge summary and treatment record in writing, your medication list with generic drug names rather than only Indian brand names, a clear follow-up schedule, and the name of a doctor in Fiji who will take over your monitoring.

Then check, before you fly, that the specific medicines you have been prescribed are available and affordable where you live. Anti-rejection medication after a transplant, blood thinners after a mechanical heart valve, and thyroid hormone after thyroid surgery all have to continue without interruption. A treatment that succeeds in hospital and fails at home for want of a tablet is the outcome all of this planning exists to prevent. Follow-up consultations continue by video.

Related

• All treatments in India
• Medical visa for India
• How the teleconsultation works
• All country guides
• Our partner hospitals