Sudden face drooping, arm weakness or speech difficulty means call an ambulance immediately. Treatment works only within a few hours of onset. Note the time symptoms started — it determines what treatment is possible. Do not wait to see if it passes.
Blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted, either by a clot blocking an artery or by bleeding into the brain. Brain tissue begins dying within minutes, which is why nothing about acute stroke can wait.
This page has two halves. The first says clearly that acute stroke is treated where you are. The second explains what is genuinely worth travelling for afterwards — rehabilitation, finding the cause, and preventing the next one.
Around four in five strokes are ischaemic — an artery supplying the brain becomes blocked, usually by a clot, and the tissue it feeds is starved of oxygen. The remainder are haemorrhagic, where a vessel bursts and blood damages the surrounding brain.
The distinction is critical because treatment is opposite. An ischaemic stroke may be treated by dissolving or retrieving the clot; giving those same treatments to someone with bleeding would be catastrophic. This is why a CT scan comes before any treatment, always.
Time is the governing factor. Clot-busting medication works within roughly four and a half hours of onset; mechanical clot retrieval extends that window for large vessel blockages but is still measured in hours. Every minute of delay costs brain tissue that does not come back.
A transient ischaemic attack — symptoms that resolve within minutes or hours — is a warning rather than a lesser event. The risk of a full stroke in the following days is substantial, and it should be treated as urgently as a stroke itself.
Clot-busting treatment works within about four and a half hours of symptom onset. Mechanical thrombectomy extends that window somewhat but is still counted in hours. No international transfer can be arranged in that time, and attempting it wastes the only window in which the brain can be saved. Go to the nearest hospital with a CT scanner, immediately, and note the time symptoms began. Once the acute phase is over, travelling for rehabilitation and for investigation of the cause is entirely reasonable and often genuinely worthwhile.
Imaging first, then finding out why it happened.
Roughly one in four strokes occurs in someone who has had one before, and the cause frequently goes uninvestigated. Atrial fibrillation needs anticoagulation, not aspirin. A significantly narrowed carotid artery may need surgery. A hole in the heart may be relevant in a younger patient. Send the scans, the ECG, the echocardiogram and the discharge summary — a thorough second look at why it happened is one of the most valuable things we can arrange.
Acute treatment happens locally. Everything after that is where travel can help.
Clot-busting medication within about four and a half hours, and mechanical retrieval of the clot through a catheter for large vessel blockages within a longer but still limited window. Both are highly effective and both are entirely time-dependent. These happen at the nearest capable hospital, never after travel.
Daily physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, at an intensity difficult to obtain in many countries and at a fraction of Western cost. Recovery continues for many months after a stroke, and the intensity of therapy in the first six months substantially affects the eventual outcome. This is the single most valuable thing most stroke patients travel for.
A thorough search for why the stroke happened, and treatment of what is found — anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation, surgery or stenting for a narrowed carotid artery, closure of a hole in the heart in selected younger patients, and rigorous control of blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.
Evacuation of a large clot in selected cases, treatment of an underlying aneurysm or malformation, and shunting where hydrocephalus develops. Decompressive surgery is occasionally needed for massive swelling after a large ischaemic stroke.
Acute means local treatment now. Subacute and chronic mean rehabilitation and prevention, where travel makes sense.
If nobody has explained why your stroke happened, that investigation is the highest-value thing to arrange.
Set against how much time has passed and what function remains. Honest goal-setting matters more than promises of recovery.
Beware of any facility promising recovery from long-standing stroke through stem cells or similar treatments. There is no established evidence for them, and they are sold to desperate families at high prices.
A transient ischaemic attack carries a high risk of a full stroke within days. It is an emergency in its own right and needs local assessment immediately, not a planned trip.
Photographs taken on your phone are fine. Reports in Arabic, Russian or Bengali are fine — we translate them ourselves.
Not for the acute event — that must be treated locally within hours. But afterwards, yes, and it is one of the most worthwhile reasons to travel. Intensive daily rehabilitation over several weeks, and a proper investigation of why the stroke happened, are both available here at a fraction of Western cost and at an intensity many countries cannot provide.
Most improvement occurs in the first three to six months, but meaningful gains continue for a year and beyond, particularly with sustained therapy. Starting intensive rehabilitation earlier gives better results, but it is rarely too late to gain something. We will give you an honest assessment of realistic goals based on the scans and current function.
Common causes include atrial fibrillation, narrowing of the carotid arteries, small vessel disease from long-standing high blood pressure and diabetes, and clot from the heart. In younger patients, a hole in the heart or a clotting disorder may be responsible. If nobody has told you the cause, that investigation is the most valuable thing to arrange — because the treatment differs completely.
No, and we will not arrange them. There is no established evidence that stem cell therapy improves outcomes after stroke, and clinics offering it to international patients charge a great deal for something unproven. Your money is far better spent on intensive conventional rehabilitation, which does have evidence behind it.
A transient ischaemic attack causes stroke symptoms that resolve within minutes or hours. It is not a minor event — it is a warning, and the risk of a full stroke in the following days is substantial. It should be assessed as urgently as a stroke, with investigation of the cause and prompt treatment to prevent the stroke that may follow.
To a considerable degree, yes, and this is where the most benefit lies. Anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation, treatment of a narrowed carotid artery, rigorous blood pressure control, statins, diabetes management and stopping smoking together reduce the risk of a second stroke substantially. Many patients are not on the right combination, and correcting that is often the highest-value thing we can do.
Send the CT and MRI reports, the discharge summary, and the ECG and echocardiogram. Tell us how long ago the stroke happened and what function remains.
Your reports go directly to our medical team. We do not share your records with hospitals until you tell us to.
WhatsApp +91 83035 86344 · Phone +91 83035 86344 · Email tibhind@gmail.com
Coordinators available 9:00–20:00 IST. We speak Arabic, English, Russian and Bengali.