Home/The Maldives
Knee & Hip Replacement in Mumbai
for Patients from the Maldives
What a patient travelling from the Maldives actually needs to know: the flight, the visa, what to budget, and who looks after you once you are back in Malé.
Personal reply from Dr. Kachare within 24 hours (IST). Free for international patients: X-ray review and first video consultation, with no obligation. You deal with him personally, start to finish. Prefer email? theprotonium@protonmail.com
Getting Here
The Journey from Malé
Malé to Mumbai is a direct flight of under three hours. For a Maldivian patient, India is not really overseas medicine — it is the nearest place with the full range of orthopedic care, which is why it has been the default destination for so long.
From the atolls, allow for the domestic leg to Malé in your planning, particularly on the way home when sea transfers are harder with a new joint.
Paperwork
Your Visa Route
Maldivian nationals have unusually straightforward entry arrangements with India, but the visa category still has to match the purpose of travel. Confirm the correct route with the Indian High Commission in Malé and with the hospital before you fly — the invitation letter is needed either way.
The full medical visa guide — which visa, the invitation letter, and attendant visas →
Cost
What You Should Budget
Indian hospitals quote a surgical package, and the implant is not included in it. Ask that question of anyone quoting you a price, anywhere in India.
A single knee or hip runs roughly $3,400 to $5,000 for the package and implant together; both knees in one trip, $5,300 to $8,000. Flights, visa, accommodation and physiotherapy after discharge sit outside that.
While You Are Here
Language, Practicalities and Timing
Consultations are in English. Mumbai has long-standing familiarity with Maldivian patients, and Aasandha-related documentation requirements are well understood by hospital international offices here.
If your treatment is being supported through a government or insurance scheme, tell Dr. Kachare at the outset. The paperwork those schemes require is easy to produce while you are here and very difficult to obtain once you have flown home.
Afterwards
Follow-Up Once You Are Home
Orthopedic follow-up in the Maldives is limited outside Malé, which makes the written physiotherapy protocol you leave with more important than usual. It is designed to be followed by a therapist with no access to the operating surgeon, and video review at six weeks, three months and a year covers the rest.
If a serious problem appears months later you will be treated where you are, not in Mumbai — that is true of every medical travel arrangement anywhere. What reduces the risk is complete documentation and a surgeon who stays reachable.
Next Step
Start by Sending Your Imaging
Free for international patients: X-ray review and first video consultation, with no obligation. Neither requires you to travel. Send your X-rays or CT on WhatsApp or by email with a short history — your age, how long the pain has lasted, what has already been tried, and any previous surgery — and you will get a personal reply from Dr. Kachare, the surgeon who would operate, within 24 hours (IST).
The first video consultation is free, so you can see him and ask your questions before anything is booked. You deal with him personally, start to finish. If the honest answer is that you do not need surgery yet, or that it is better done closer to home, you will be told that.
The Maldives
Travelling from The Maldives — Frequently Asked
Only at an empanelled facility, and the empanelled hospitals in India are concentrated in the south — Bangalore, Kochi, Chennai, Coimbatore. Mumbai is not currently represented on that list, so if your treatment is being funded through Aasandha you will most likely be referred south rather than here.
That is worth knowing before you plan anything. Coming to Mumbai makes sense if you are paying privately, or if what you need — revision of a failed replacement, reconstruction where bone has been lost — is not something the empanelled hospitals handle routinely. Check your position with Aasandha first; it is a twenty-minute conversation that can save a wasted trip.
Plan on about three weeks in Mumbai before the flight to Malé. The domestic leg and any sea transfer afterwards need thinking about separately — boarding a launch with a new hip is harder than boarding a plane, and it is worth arranging help in advance.
For someone travelling from the Maldives it is often the sensible choice, since it means one trip instead of two. Whether it is safe for you depends on your general health, and that is assessed properly rather than assumed. Expect a longer hospital stay and around a week more in Mumbai than for a single knee.
Send your X-ray or CT on WhatsApp for an assessment from the surgeon
Personal reply from Dr. Kachare within 24 hours (IST). Free for international patients: X-ray review and first video consultation, with no obligation. You deal with the surgeon personally, start to finish. Email: theprotonium@protonmail.com · How the free X-ray review works →