Every question we answer on this site, searchable

We are a UK company that coordinates private medical treatment in India for people in the United Kingdom. We screen whether you are a sensible candidate, collect your records and imaging with your consent, arrange a video consultation with a named surgeon, compare hospitals and total costs side by side, organise visas, flights, accommodation and transfers through our partner team in India, stay in contact throughout, and arrange physiotherapy and follow-up when you are home. We do not perform surgery, provide medical treatment, employ the clinicians, or have any connection with the NHS.

No, and we will not describe it that way. Surgery is a serious medical decision and the trip is planned around clinical milestones — admission, the operation, the surgeon’s clearance to fly — not around sightseeing. You will spend most of the visit in or near the hospital, and the return date is set by the surgeon rather than by your ticket.

The treating hospital, under its own clinical governance and insurance, for anything clinical. Sevanta is responsible for the coordination we contract to provide, under UK consumer law. The Care Quality Commission does not regulate hospitals in India, the General Medical Council has no jurisdiction over India-based surgeons, and the NHS is not liable for treatment obtained abroad. Our Privacy & Safety page sets out exactly where each protection stops and what replaces it.

You pay us a fixed coordination fee, agreed in writing before you commit to anything. We take no payment from any hospital, and you pay the hospital directly for treatment — your money never passes through us. Our partner organisation in India, which handles arrangements on the ground, is paid commission by the hospitals it works with. The full disclosure, including the conflicts that creates and what we do about them, is on the How we get paid page.

No. The cost estimator on this site works with no email address and no medical information at all. A first call with us needs no records either. Medical details are only collected later, with your explicit consent, at the point where a surgeon needs them to give you a real quotation.

Typically six to twelve weeks from a first call to travelling, depending on how quickly records are gathered, when the surgeon can consult, and visa processing. Time in India depends on the procedure: dental work is usually one to two weeks, most orthopaedic surgery two to three, and fertility treatment is planned backwards from the transfer date. We give you a written timeline before you book anything.

Yes, and for most surgery we recommend it. The estimator includes a companion’s flights and accommodation as a separate line so the cost is visible rather than discovered. Your companion can join every consultation and every conversation with us.

Yes, and we would rather do it early. Certain conditions, medications and circumstances at home make long-haul travel after surgery a poor idea regardless of price. We do not earn anything by telling you that, which is precisely why you should expect it from us.

A twenty-to-thirty-minute conversation with a UK coordinator about what has been recommended, how long you have waited, what you have been quoted, and what worries you. No medical records are needed and nothing is sold. By the end we tell you whether treatment abroad looks like a sensible option for you — including when it does not.

You do. We put the options that fit your case side by side — the hospital, the named surgeon, unit volumes, accreditation, itemised cost and travel implications — and we record in writing that the choice was yours. If we think one option is a poor fit we say so and explain why.

Yes, on video, before anything is booked and before any money goes to the hospital. The surgeon confirms the treatment plan, the implant or approach, the expected stay and the price, and tells you what would change it. You can bring a family member and take as long as you need afterwards.

Pre-operative tests are repeated on site. If anything changes the plan or the price — a graft becomes necessary, a longer stay is clinically indicated — you are told before you go to theatre, in writing, and you can decline. Nothing is done first and explained at discharge.

Flights are booked only once the surgeon has confirmed an admission date, and the return leg is kept flexible because the discharge date is a clinical decision. If discharge slips, the change fee and any extra nights are yours to pay, which is why the estimator shows extra nights as a line item and why we require travel insurance that covers planned treatment abroad.

A discharge summary, the operation note, an implant card where relevant, and your imaging, in the formats UK GPs and NHS trusts actually use. With your consent we send the same record to your GP before you land. This is the single most practical thing we do and the one nobody asks about until they are home.

The hospital in India. Sevanta coordinates your journey and provides no clinical care whatsoever. Treatment is carried out under the hospital’s own clinical governance, and a clinical complaint is made to the hospital and, where applicable, to India’s National Medical Commission. The Care Quality Commission does not regulate care in India and the General Medical Council has no jurisdiction over India-based surgeons.

The treating hospital manages any complication under its own package terms, which we give you in writing before you travel — including what those terms do not cover. Your coordinator stays involved throughout and liaises with your family in the UK. Because cover varies by hospital, travel insurance that explicitly includes planned surgery abroad is a condition of us proceeding.

No, and nobody honest will tell you otherwise. The figure is based on the treatment plan the surgeon sets after reviewing your imaging and history. If the plan changes — a graft becomes necessary, a longer stay is clinically indicated — the price changes, and we tell you before anything is done rather than at discharge.

They can, and it usually makes the aftercare simpler. With your consent we share the operation note, implant details and discharge summary with your GP. Your NHS team is under no obligation to be involved in care obtained privately abroad, and the NHS is not liable for it.

It depends on the procedure and on your surgeon’s clearance to fly, not on your return ticket. As a rough guide: dental work one to two weeks, most orthopaedic surgery two to three weeks. The discharge date is a clinical decision and we plan flights around it rather than the other way round.

You pay us a coordination fee. Our partner team in India is paid commission by the hospitals it works with. Both facts are set out in full on our how-we-get-paid page, including the conflicts of interest that arrangement creates and what we do about them.

Only hospitals that have signed an agreement with us appear on the register, and each entry records whether we have been inside the building. We do not list a hospital because it is famous, because it advertises to international patients, or because it appears on somebody else’s directory. If an entry shows no visit recorded, that hospital is still being assessed and has not been signed.

NABH is the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers, a constituent board of the Quality Council of India. Full hospital accreditation involves an on-site assessment against several hundred objective elements covering clinical care, infection control, medication safety, records and patient rights, with a surveillance visit in year two and reassessment in year four. It is a serious process. It is also not the only NABH programme — see the next question.

No, and this is the single most useful thing to know when reading any Indian hospital’s marketing. NABH also runs an entry-level certification aimed at organisations beginning their quality journey, and a hospital holding it can reasonably describe itself as NABH-certified. Full accreditation and entry-level certification are different assessments against different standards. Every entry on our register names which one the hospital holds, and you can check any of them yourself on NABH’s public directory.

They are different, not ranked. JCI is a United States-based international accreditor and is more widely recognised outside India, which is why some hospitals pursue it alongside NABH. NABH’s hospital standards are accredited by ISQua, the international body that accredits accreditors. A hospital holding both has been assessed twice against two different standards, which is worth something — but neither tells you how many of your specific operation the unit performs, which is why we ask for that separately.

You do. We give you the options that fit your case with the costs, the accreditation, the volumes and the travel implications set out side by side, and we record in writing that the choice was yours. If we think one option is a poor fit for your case we will say so plainly, and we will tell you why.

Sevanta is paid by you, and only by you — a fixed coordination fee agreed before you commit to anything. Our partner organisation in India, which handles the arrangements on the ground, is paid commission by the hospitals it works with. We would rather you heard that from us on this page than found it out later. It is why the choice of hospital stays with you and why we publish what we checked rather than asking you to take our recommendation on trust.

Because the price follows the treatment plan, and the plan follows your imaging. A fixed price quoted before a surgeon has looked at your scans is either padded to cover the worst case or is about to change. The estimator above shows the shape of the bill; the quotation comes after the review.

In full if the hospital declines your case after review, or if we advise you not to travel. If you cancel more than 21 days before admission it is refunded less any costs already incurred, itemised line by line. Inside 21 days it is not refundable, because the costs have been committed.

Both, separately, and that is deliberate. Our coordination fee comes to us; the treatment cost goes to the hospital directly. We never hold your treatment money, so there is nothing of yours on our balance sheet.

Hospital charges are set in rupees. A quotation holds for 30 days, and the sterling figure is recalculated at settlement using the rate on the day, which we show you. On a bill of this size a few per cent either way is real money, so it is worth knowing about rather than discovering.

We do not offer credit and we do not introduce you to a lender. Regulated consumer credit is a separate business we are not authorised for, and a coordinator with a commission on your loan is a conflict we would rather not create.

The coordination fee, in full. Separately, our partner team in India is paid commission by the hospitals it works with, which is money you never see on your invoice but which exists. The full disclosure, including the conflicts it creates, is on the how-we-get-paid page.

That is not a question anybody can answer honestly as a single yes or no, and you should be wary of anyone who tries. Outcomes depend on the hospital, the surgical unit, the volume it performs of your specific operation, your own health, and the quality of your aftercare — far more than on the country. What we can tell you is what we checked, what each hospital reported, and what we could not verify. The comparison you should make is between specific units, not between two countries.

You are an inpatient in a hospital with a resident medical team, and our partner organisation has staff on the ground in the same city who can be with you. Your UK coordinator is contactable, but be realistic about time zones: at three in the morning in Delhi, the person who will help you is in Delhi.

Yes. Ask and we will send you what we hold, and we will also tell you how to check it yourself on the accreditor’s public register rather than taking our copy on trust. If we cannot produce it, that itself is an answer.

Yes, for eight years after the end of your engagement — the period the NHS Records Management Code of Practice sets for adult health records. We hold copies; the authoritative clinical record sits with the treating hospital and your GP. You can ask for a copy of everything we hold, or for deletion, at any time.

Only if you want them to be, but we will strongly encourage it. Your GP is the person who will manage anything that develops after you get home, and they can do that far better with your discharge summary and implant details than without. We can send your records directly with your consent.

What happens if it goes wrong after I get home, and who pays. Almost everybody asks about price, waiting time and the hospital. Very few ask about the six weeks after the flight back, which is when the difficult version of this decision actually plays out.

A UK-registered physiotherapist, chosen with you and booked before you fly, with the surgeon’s written rehabilitation protocol sent ahead. The physiotherapist is an independent HCPC-registered professional or a clinic, not a Sevanta employee, and their sessions are itemised in your estimate.

With your consent, yes — your GP receives the discharge summary, operation note, implant details and imaging, and we would strongly encourage you to tell them before you travel. Your GP is under no obligation to take part in care obtained privately abroad, but most will want to know what has been done, and a complete record makes their job possible.

Contact us and, if it is urgent, contact NHS 111 or 999 as you would for any medical problem. The NHS will treat you if you are unwell — it is not obliged to correct treatment obtained abroad and it is not liable for it, which is not the same thing. Your coordinator will contact the treating surgeon for advice and the hospital’s complications policy, which we give you in writing before you travel, sets out what it covers.

Twelve months from the date of surgery, with scheduled check-ins at two, six and twelve weeks and at twelve months, and the same coordinator reachable in between. A video review with the operating surgeon can be arranged at any of those points where the surgeon considers it useful.

The coordination of it is included in our fee. The physiotherapy sessions themselves, any private imaging in the UK and any private consultant review at home are itemised separately in your estimate, so the cost is visible before you decide. Anything the NHS provides remains free at the point of use in the usual way.

No. Long-haul flight soon after lower-limb surgery in particular raises the risk of a blood clot. The surgeon decides when you are fit to fly, typically after several days of inpatient physiotherapy, and you travel with compression stockings, clot-prevention medication where prescribed, and a written plan for the flight.

A fixed amount, stated in pounds in your written estimate before you commit to anything, and shown as its own line in the cost estimator. It does not change with the price of your treatment or the hospital you choose, which is the point: we have no financial reason to steer you towards a more expensive option.

No. Sevanta takes no commission, referral fee, marketing payment or benefit in kind from any hospital, clinic or clinician, and our agreements with hospitals say so. If that ever changes, this page will change first.

Our partner organisation in India — an independent company that handles visas, transfers, accommodation and day-to-day support on the ground, and which has clients other than us. It is paid commission by the hospitals it works with. That is a conflict of interest, we say so, and the How we get paid page sets out what we do about it.

No. You pay the hospital directly, on the hospital’s own invoice, at the stages the hospital sets out in writing. We never hold your treatment money, which means it is not at risk if anything happens to us and it keeps us outside the rules that govern payment services.

You have a fourteen-day right to cancel our coordination agreement from the day you sign it, under UK consumer law. Beyond that, our cancellation terms are in the agreement and the hospital’s own cancellation and refund terms are given to you in writing before any deposit is paid. Both are described in your estimate.

Because a profile goes up only when there is a signed agreement with the hospital, a verified register entry, and volumes in writing behind it — and Sevanta, being new, has not completed that for anyone yet. A list of impressive names without those three things would be marketing, and in this sector it would also be a claim about a third party we could not support.

Yes. The comparison document names the consultant at each hospital option, with their register entry and volumes, and you choose. If you already have a surgeon in mind at a hospital on our register, tell us and we will run the same checks on them.

Some consultants at large Indian private hospitals hold UK or other overseas qualifications and some do not; a profile states exactly what each holds and from where. We do not treat overseas training as a proxy for quality — the register entry, the current role and the volumes in your operation tell you more.

Nobody in the UK regulates them. That is the honest answer, and it is why the follow-up plan is built around your UK physiotherapist and your GP having the complete record, with the operating surgeon available on video where they consider it useful. The Privacy & Safety page sets out what happens if something goes wrong.

Because Sevanta is a new company and has not yet coordinated a patient’s treatment. We could have bought or borrowed testimonials; every company in this category has that option and many take it. We would rather show you an empty page with the standard written on it.

Three things, all of them required: the patient’s written consent to publish their full name and story, dated; the treatment, hospital and month named; and a link to a review the patient left on a platform we do not control, so you can read it somewhere we cannot edit. A story that cannot meet all three is not published.

Yes. The standard above does not have a sentiment test. A patient who consents to publication and has left a review elsewhere is published whether the review is glowing or not, and we will respond to it in public.

When there are previous patients who have agreed to be contacted, yes, and we will arrange it directly rather than through us. Until then we will say plainly that there is nobody to speak to.

You should not trust us on age, because we do not have any. What you can do instead is check the things that are checkable: the company number on the Companies House register, the accreditation of every hospital on our register with the accreditor directly, and the registration of any surgeon we name on the Indian Medical Register. We have built the site so that almost everything we claim can be verified somewhere that is not this website. That is the argument, and it is the only honest one available to a company founded this year.

We will publish that number once there is one, with the year it covers. We are not going to describe ourselves as established, trusted or leading in the meantime, and if you see a medical travel company using those words without a figure attached, ask it the same question.

An independent partner organisation in India, run by people we know and work with, handles visas, transfers, accommodation and day-to-day support on the ground. They take their own clients besides us. Sevanta stays your point of contact in the UK throughout and does not hand you over.

Contact us first and we will help you get the right care quickly — but be clear about what that means. We are not clinicians and cannot treat you. If you are unwell, the NHS will treat you; it is not obliged to correct work done abroad, and it is not liable for it. The aftercare arrangement we set up before you fly, and the discharge documentation we make sure you travel home with, exist precisely so that a UK clinician has something to work from.

Yes, and we would rather do it early. Some conditions, some combinations of medication, and some circumstances at home make long-haul travel after surgery a poor idea regardless of price. We do not earn anything by telling you that, which is exactly why you should expect it from us.

Yes, and many people prefer to. The number is at the top and bottom of every page. If we cannot answer, leave a message and a coordinator calls back within one working day.

Yes. An enquiry is seen by the coordinator handling it and nobody else. We collect no medical information at this stage, we never sell or share your details for marketing, and you can ask us to delete your enquiry at any time.

Yes — it is very common. We will speak to whoever contacts us, but we will need to speak to you directly before anything is arranged, and any medical records are shared only with your own explicit consent.