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TIB HIND

If you are receiving chemotherapy and develop a fever, go to hospital immediately — do not wait until morning. Infection during chemotherapy can become life-threatening within hours and needs antibiotics urgently. The same applies to sudden weakness in the legs, difficulty passing urine, or severe back pain, which can indicate pressure on the spinal cord.

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Cancer treatment in India

Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant at NABH and JCI accredited hospitals across Delhi NCR — at roughly a fifth to a third of what the same treatment costs in Europe or the United States.

Cancer is rarely one procedure. It is a sequence — diagnosis, staging, surgery, and often months of drug treatment afterwards. We plan the whole sequence before you fly, and we will tell you honestly which parts of it are worth travelling for and which are better done near your home.

Send reports for a free second opinion Talk to us on WhatsApp

Free. No obligation. A written opinion within 48 hours.

Clinically reviewed by Dr. Annie Varughese, Consultant Medical Oncologist Clinical oversight Dr. Annie Varughese, MD, FACC Last reviewed August 2026 Editorial and medical review policy
Cost versus Europe or US
20–33%
Of the same treatment's price
Second opinion
Within 48 hours
Free, on reports you already have
Time in India
3 weeks to 3 months
Surgery at the short end, radiotherapy and transplant at the long end
Waiting time
Days, not months
Staging scans usually within 48 hours of arrival
On this page
  1. Start with a second opinion
  2. Cancers we arrange treatment for
  3. Treatments, stay and recovery
  4. Where chemotherapy should actually be given
  5. How we choose the hospital and oncologist
  6. Who should not travel
  7. What your trip looks like
  8. Questions patients ask
Start here

Start with a second opinion, not a quotation

Almost everyone who contacts us about cancer already has a diagnosis and a proposed plan. The most useful thing we can do first is check both.

Send us the pathology report, the scans and the treatment plan you have been given. A specialist in that specific cancer reviews them and writes back within 48 hours with an opinion on whether the diagnosis is right, whether the stage is right, and whether the proposed sequence of treatment is what they would recommend.

This costs you nothing and it changes the plan more often than people expect — sometimes because the tumour subtype was reported differently on re-examination, more often because the order of treatment should be different. Chemotherapy before surgery instead of after it, for instance, is a change that can alter the whole outcome of a breast or rectal cancer.

Bring the slides, not only the report

A pathology report is one pathologist's interpretation of what is on a glass slide. Re-examination by a specialist in that cancer type changes the diagnosis or the subtype in a meaningful minority of cases, and subtype frequently determines the entire treatment plan. Ask the laboratory that made your diagnosis for the slides or the paraffin blocks. They belong to you and they are usually released on request.

Send reports for a second opinion
Cancers

Cancers we arrange treatment for

Each has its own page explaining the tests, the treatment sequence and what determines the cost. If yours is not listed, send the reports anyway.

Cancer typeDetailed page
Breast cancerRead → Blood cancers — leukaemia, lymphoma and myelomaRead → Head and neck and oral cancerRead → Cervical and ovarian cancerRead → Colorectal cancerRead → Lung cancerRead → Liver cancerRead → Stomach and oesophageal cancerRead → Prostate and bladder cancerRead → Childhood cancersRead →
Treatments

Treatments, stay and recovery

Durations below are typical rather than promised. Most patients need more than one of these, in a sequence decided by the tumour type and stage.

Procedure 01

Cancer surgery

Removal of the tumour with an adequate margin, together with the lymph nodes that drain the area where this is indicated. Minimally invasive and robotic approaches are available for many abdominal, thoracic, gynaecological and urological cancers, and reduce recovery time considerably. For most solid tumours caught early, surgery is the treatment that offers cure.

Hospital stay
3 to 10 days, depending on the site and approach
Total time in India
3 to 5 weeks, including staging and recovery
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 02

Chemotherapy

Drug treatment given in cycles, usually every two to three weeks over several months. It may be given before surgery to shrink a tumour, after surgery to reduce recurrence, or as the main treatment for cancers that are widespread or of the blood. Read the note below about where chemotherapy should actually be given — it matters more than most patients are told.

Per cycle
One day to three days as an inpatient or day case
Full course
Typically 4 to 8 cycles over 3 to 6 months
Indicative cost
On request per cycle
Procedure 03

Radiotherapy

Targeted radiation delivered daily over several weeks. Modern techniques — intensity-modulated radiotherapy, image-guided radiotherapy and stereotactic treatment — shape the dose closely around the tumour and spare surrounding tissue. Brachytherapy, where the source is placed inside or beside the tumour, is central to the treatment of cervical cancer in particular.

Daily treatment
15 to 20 minutes, Monday to Friday
Full course
Typically 3 to 7 weeks — you must stay in India throughout
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 04

Immunotherapy and targeted therapy

Drugs that either release the brakes on your own immune system or block a specific molecular pathway that a tumour depends on. Whether either applies to you is determined by testing the tumour tissue — not by the type of cancer alone. Where they are indicated they can be transformative; where they are not, they are expensive and useless, and the testing is what tells the difference.

Given as
Infusion every 2 to 4 weeks, or daily tablets
Duration
Often continued for many months or longer
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 05

Bone marrow transplant

For leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and some non-cancerous marrow disorders. Either your own stem cells are collected and returned after high-dose treatment, or cells come from a matched sibling, a half-matched parent or an unrelated donor. It requires weeks in protective isolation and has its own dedicated page.

Hospital stay
4 to 6 weeks, much of it in isolation
Total time in India
3 to 4 months including post-transplant monitoring
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 06

Second opinion on a diagnosis made elsewhere

Your biopsy slides, scans and pathology report are reviewed by a specialist in that specific cancer, and you receive a written opinion on whether the diagnosis, the stage and the proposed plan are correct. This is the least expensive thing on this page and frequently the most valuable — it sometimes changes the diagnosis, and more often changes the sequence of treatment.

Turnaround
Written opinion within 48 hours of receiving reports
Slide review
Add 3 to 5 days if physical slides must be sent
Indicative cost
Free from TIB HIND; hospital review fees where slides are re-examined
Read this

You probably should not stay in India for your whole course of chemotherapy

This is the advice that costs us the most, and we give it constantly. The question is not whether Indian oncology is good — it is which parts of your treatment genuinely require you to be here.

Worth travelling for

Accurate diagnosis and staging, complex surgery, modern radiotherapy, bone marrow transplant, and a treatment plan written by someone who sees your cancer every week.

Better done at home

Most standard chemotherapy cycles, once the protocol is set. Your local team can also manage the side effects when they arrive at two in the morning, in your own language.

What we do instead

We write the protocol clearly enough for your local oncologist to follow, send the records, and stay available to them. Where a regimen genuinely needs specialist supervision, we will say so.

Staying in Delhi for six months of cycles means six months of accommodation, six months away from your family, and side effects managed in a country where you do not speak the language. We will not keep you here by default.

Selection

How we choose the hospital and oncologist

A specialist in your cancer

Not a general oncologist. A breast cancer is best managed by someone whose practice is breast cancer, and the difference shows most in the decisions that are not obvious.

A multidisciplinary meeting

Good cancer care is decided by a group — surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, radiologist and pathologist together — not by one doctor alone. We check that the hospital genuinely runs one and that your case will go to it.

Pathology and radiotherapy quality

An accurate subtype and a properly planned radiation dose matter as much as the surgeon. We look at the pathology department and the radiotherapy technology available, not only at surgical volume.

Cancer treatment is where the gap between hospitals is widest and least visible from outside. This is the specialty in which our selection matters most, and where we most often recommend a hospital that is not the best-known name.

Honestly

Who should not travel

Cancer treatment carries real risk, and outcomes depend on the type, the stage, and your general condition. Anyone quoting you a survival figure without seeing your pathology report and staging scans is quoting a marketing number. Ask your oncologist for the figures relevant to your stage and subtype, and ask what the treatment is intended to achieve — cure, control, or symptom relief. Those are different goals and you are entitled to know which one applies.

Some patients are better served at home

Fever during chemotherapy, or any sign of infection

This is an emergency and is treated where you are, immediately. Do not travel with it.

Uncontrolled bleeding, breathlessness at rest, or severe unmanaged pain

These need stabilising locally before travel can be considered at all.

Suspected spinal cord compression

— new weakness in the legs, numbness, or difficulty passing urine. This is an emergency measured in hours, not days.

Very advanced disease where treatment will not extend life meaningfully

This is the hardest conversation and we do not avoid it. Spending your remaining months in airports and foreign hospitals, away from your family, is not a kindness. Where that is our honest reading of the reports, we will tell you, and we will help you find good palliative care near home instead.

Your trip

What your trip looks like

A patient travelling for cancer surgery, from first message to going home.

01
Send reports — day one
Pathology report, scans, any treatment plan you have been given. Photographs from your phone are fine.
02
Second opinion — within 48 hours
A specialist in your cancer reviews the diagnosis, the stage and the proposed plan, and writes back.
03
Visa and travel — one to two weeks
Invitation letters for you and one attendant. Bring the original slides or blocks if you can obtain them.
04
Staging and review — days one to five
PET-CT or other imaging where indicated, slide review, and your case discussed at the multidisciplinary meeting.
05
Treatment
Surgery with a hospital stay of three to ten days, or the start of radiotherapy or chemotherapy according to the plan.
06
Recovery and handover — one to three weeks
Wound review, the final pathology from the operation, and a written protocol for any treatment to continue at home.
07
Follow-up from home
Remote reviews with your oncologist here, and direct contact between them and your local doctor. Included, not extra.
Start with a free second opinion
Questions

Questions cancer patients ask

Usually not, and we will tell you so. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, the staging is complete and the protocol is set, many chemotherapy regimens can be given safely at a hospital near your home at a fraction of the cost of staying in India for months. What is genuinely worth travelling for is accurate diagnosis and staging, surgery, radiotherapy, transplant, and a treatment plan you can trust. We would rather arrange those and send you home for the cycles than keep you here for six months.

Because the report is an interpretation, and interpretations differ. Re-examination of the original slides by a specialist pathologist in that cancer type changes the diagnosis or the subtype in a meaningful minority of cases — and the subtype often determines the entire treatment plan. If you can obtain the physical slides or blocks from the laboratory that made the diagnosis, bring them.

It varies enormously and the honest answer for most solid tumours is that a few weeks spent getting the diagnosis and plan right is time well spent, not time lost. Acute leukaemias and a small number of aggressive lymphomas are different and need treatment within days. Tell us the diagnosis and we will say which applies to you.

Yes. Some cancers are diagnosed at a stage where treatment will not extend life meaningfully and will cost weeks of it in travel and side effects. In that situation the kinder answer is good symptom control near your family, and we will say so plainly rather than sell a journey. We have done this and we will do it again.

For many cancers, yes — it changes the stage in a significant proportion of patients, and stage determines the whole plan. Treating a cancer as localised when a PET scan would have shown it had spread leads to the wrong operation. Where a PET scan is not indicated, we will say so rather than add it to a package.

Yes, and for cancer treatment we strongly recommend it. India issues a medical attendant visa for exactly this, and we provide the invitation letter for both. Cancer treatment is long, tiring and frightening, and nobody should do it alone in a foreign country.

No. We arrange treatment that has evidence behind it, at accredited hospitals, under named oncologists. If you are considering an alternative therapy alongside conventional treatment, tell your oncologist, because some herbal preparations interact dangerously with chemotherapy.

Related pages: Cancer treatment cost in India  ·  Bone marrow transplant  ·  All treatments  ·  Our hospital network  ·  Medical visa guides