Knee & Hip Replacement in Mumbai
for Patients from Nigeria

There is no direct flight from Lagos to Mumbai at present. The usual routings are one stop through Addis Ababa with Ethiopian Airlines, around thirteen hours in total and generally the fastest, or through Nairobi, Dubai, Doha or Cairo at fourteen to sixteen hours. From Abuja and Port Harcourt the same connections apply.

That is a long journey, and it is worth planning the return leg carefully. Ask for an aisle seat, wear the compression stockings you will be given, and walk the cabin at every opportunity — after lower-limb surgery this is not optional advice.

Nigeria is not on the e-Visa list, so the e-Medical Visa is not an option: apply for a regular medical visa through the High Commission of India in Abuja or the Consulate General of India in Lagos. Allow more time than the processing estimate suggests, and start with the hospital invitation letter, since nothing can be submitted without it.

Yellow fever: Nigeria is on the list of yellow-fever endemic countries that India’s Ministry of Health applies to arriving passengers, so carry a valid yellow fever vaccination certificate — the original card, given at least ten days before you arrive. Without one you can be quarantined for up to six days. Details are on the Ministry of Health point-of-entry page.

The full medical visa guide — which visa, the invitation letter, and attendant visas →

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.

The full cost breakdown, including what moves the number →

Consultations are in English throughout. Nigeria and India share a great deal in medical training and drug nomenclature, which removes much of the friction patients meet when travelling elsewhere.

Bring a written list of your medications using generic names. Nigerian brand names are often unfamiliar to Indian pharmacists, and this single sheet of paper prevents a real problem in the first forty-eight hours.

You will leave with a complete file — operative notes, implant make, model and batch numbers, discharge summary and post-operative imaging — so that an orthopedic surgeon in Lagos or Abuja can take over without needing to contact anyone here. Video follow-up with Dr. Kachare continues at six weeks, three months and one year regardless.

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.

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.

How the free X-ray review and video consultation work →

The full guide for international patients →