Free for International Patients: X-ray Review and Video Consultation, With the Surgeon Himself

You deal with the surgeon personally, start to finish. There is no call centre and no agent between you and the person who would operate.

1. Send your X-rays and reports to Dr. Kachare on WhatsApp, or by email to theprotonium@protonmail.com.
2. Get a personal reply from Dr. Kachare within 24 hours (IST) — whether a knee or hip replacement is the right answer, which approach, and what to expect.
3. Take the free first video consultation with him, with no obligation, before any decision about surgery. Family can join the call.
4. Receive a written estimate for your case, arranged by Dr. Kachare, before you spend anything on flights.
5. If you decide to go ahead, he arranges the visa invitation letter, which the hospital issues, and your admission date. The hospital’s international office then handles the logistics — the letter itself, airport transfer, registration — while your clinical questions stay with him.

• X-rays of the painful joint. A photograph of the films held against a window, or of the image on a screen, works if you only have hard copies.
• Any CT or MRI reports, and the scans themselves if you have them — especially for bone loss or a previous operation that has failed.
• Operative notes from any earlier surgery on the same joint.
• A short history: your age, how long the pain has lasted, what has already been tried, other conditions such as diabetes or heart disease, and your current medicines.
• Your country and roughly when you could travel.

Free for international patients: X-ray review and first video consultation, with no obligation. The video consultation is with him personally, not a coordinator, and it is arranged on WhatsApp video at a time that suits you in IST.

Use it to ask everything you would ask in a clinic room: why this operation, which implant, whether one or both knees, how long you will be in Mumbai, and what happens once you are home. If you are deciding between surgeons or countries, ask the same questions of each.

No honest final figure can be given before your imaging has been reviewed, so the number you rely on is the written estimate, prepared once Dr. Kachare has seen your case. It should state, line by line:

• The hospital package and your room category
• The number of nights included, and the per-day rate beyond them
• The implant — make, model and cost — which Indian packages usually exclude
• GST and any other taxes

For indicative ranges in US dollars, see the cost pages: knee, both knees, hip and robotic knee.

The medical visa needs an invitation letter from the treating hospital. Dr. Kachare arranges it once you have decided to proceed, so you do not have to approach the hospital yourself. Many nationalities can use the e-Medical Visa online; some, including Nigeria and Iraq, need a regular medical visa from the Indian mission.

The medical visa guide → · The full guide for international patients →