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We cannot find, source, match or arrange an organ donor, and nobody legally can. Indian law requires a near relative as donor, certified by your embassy and approved by a hospital committee. Anyone offering to arrange a donor is proposing a criminal offence.

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Organ transplant in India

Living donor liver and kidney transplant, including paediatric and ABO-incompatible transplant, at NABH and JCI accredited hospitals in Delhi NCR running high-volume programmes.

Transplant is the most tightly regulated treatment we arrange and the one where clear information matters most. Please read the legal section below before you plan anything else — it will save you time, money and, in some cases, serious trouble.

Send reports for assessment The law explained in full

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Clinically reviewed by Dr. Annie Varughese, Consultant Transplant Surgeon Clinical oversight Dr. Annie Varughese, MD, FACC Last reviewed August 2026 Editorial and medical review policy
Donor must be
A near relative
Certified by your embassy, approved by a committee
Deceased donor organs
Not available
To foreign nationals travelling for treatment
Time in India
2 to 4 months
Kidney at the shorter end, liver at the longer
Paperwork first
4 to 8 weeks
Embassy certification and committee approval
On this page
  1. The law, in plain terms
  2. Conditions we treat
  3. Procedures, stay and recovery
  4. The donor comes first
  5. How we choose the centre
  6. Who should not travel
  7. What your journey looks like
  8. Questions families ask
Read first

Transplant for foreign nationals in India: the law, in plain terms

This is the most important section on our website, and we would rather you read it before anything else. Indian transplant law is strict, it is enforced, and misunderstanding it wastes money and can expose families to criminal prosecution.

A near relative only

The donor must be a parent, child, brother, sister, spouse, grandparent or grandchild. Other relationships face far stricter scrutiny and are rarely approved for foreign nationals.

Certified by your embassy

Your country's mission in India must certify the relationship documentation. This is frequently the slowest step in the entire process — begin it before anything else.

Approved by a committee

Every case goes before a hospital Authorisation Committee, which interviews donor and recipient separately and satisfies itself that no money has changed hands.

Payment is a criminal offence

Commercial dealing in human organs is punishable by imprisonment under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act. This applies to the buyer, the seller and any intermediary.

We cannot find you a donor

Not for a fee, not as a favour, not through a contact. Nobody legally can. If any company offers this, they are proposing a crime and you should have nothing further to do with them.

Deceased donor organs are not available

They are allocated through a national registry to patients within the Indian system. Every transplant we arrange involves a living near-relative donor.

What we do is different and entirely lawful: we tell you exactly which documents are needed, help prepare your case properly for the Authorisation Committee, and make sure it is presented to a hospital with a high-volume transplant programme. Where no eligible donor exists in your family, we will tell you plainly that we cannot help — and that is a far better answer than an expensive journey that was never going to succeed.

Conditions

Conditions we treat

Each has its own page explaining what it is, when transplant becomes necessary, and what can be done before that point.

ConditionDetailed page
Liver cirrhosis and end-stage liver diseaseRead → Acute liver failureRead → Biliary atresia in babiesRead → Metabolic liver disease in childrenRead → End-stage kidney diseaseRead → Diabetic kidney diseaseRead → Polycystic kidney diseaseRead → Glomerulonephritis and IgA nephropathyRead → Becoming a living donorRead →
Procedures

Procedures, stay and recovery

Timelines below assume an uncomplicated course and exclude the weeks needed for embassy documentation and committee approval.

Procedure 01

Living donor liver transplant

A portion of a healthy liver is taken from a near relative and implanted after the diseased liver is removed. Both the donated portion and the donor's remaining liver regenerate substantially over the following weeks. It is technically among the most demanding operations in surgery, and outcomes correlate strongly with how many the centre performs each year.

Hospital stay
Recipient 3 to 4 weeks, donor 7 to 10 days
Total time in India
3 to 4 months for the recipient
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 02

Living donor kidney transplant

One kidney is taken from a near relative, usually laparoscopically, and implanted in the recipient's lower abdomen. The recipient's own kidneys are generally left in place. It is the best available treatment for end-stage kidney disease — better than dialysis for both survival and quality of life in almost every respect.

Hospital stay
Recipient 10 to 14 days, donor 3 to 5 days
Total time in India
2 to 3 months for the recipient
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 03

Paediatric liver and kidney transplant

Children are transplanted using a smaller segment of a parent's liver, or a parent's kidney. Biliary atresia is the commonest indication for liver transplant in infancy. These operations need a dedicated paediatric transplant team, paediatric intensive care and paediatric hepatology or nephrology support in the same hospital.

Hospital stay
3 to 5 weeks
Total time in India
3 to 4 months
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 04

ABO-incompatible transplant

Where the only available near relative has an incompatible blood group, the recipient's antibodies against that group are removed beforehand with plasma exchange and medication. It adds cost and complexity and requires close monitoring, but it makes transplant possible for families who would otherwise have no eligible donor at all.

Additional preparation
2 to 3 weeks before surgery
Total time in India
Add 3 to 4 weeks to the standard timeline
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 05

Paired exchange donation

Where two families each have a willing near-relative donor who is incompatible with their own recipient, but compatible with the other family's, the pairs may be exchanged. This is expressly permitted under Indian law with Authorisation Committee approval, and it is regulated closely to prevent any commercial element.

Additional process
Matching and committee approval
Total time in India
Add 4 to 8 weeks for approvals
Indicative cost
On request
Procedure 06

Donor evaluation and donor surgery

The donor is a healthy person undergoing a major operation for someone else's benefit, and their safety takes precedence over everything. Evaluation covers imaging of the organ, liver or kidney function, cardiac and respiratory fitness, infection screening and an independent psychological assessment. A donor may withdraw at any point, for any reason, without explanation.

Evaluation
1 to 2 weeks
Donor stay
Liver 7 to 10 days, kidney 3 to 5 days
Indicative cost
Included in the recipient package
The donor

The donor's safety comes before the recipient's need

A living donor is a healthy person undergoing major surgery from which they gain no medical benefit. That fact governs how a good transplant programme behaves, and it is worth knowing what to expect.

Independent assessment

The donor is evaluated by a team separate from the recipient's, including a psychological assessment, to confirm the decision is genuinely free.

The right to withdraw

At any point, for any reason, without explanation. A good team will provide a medical reason to stand a donor down so no family blame follows.

Real risks, stated plainly

Liver donation carries a small but genuine risk of serious complication and a very small risk of death. Kidney donation is safer but not risk-free. Any centre that will not give you figures is the wrong centre.

Long-term follow-up

Donors need lifelong monitoring of the remaining organ, particularly kidney donors, and this should be arranged before they leave rather than afterwards.

If you are being pressured to donate by your family, tell the assessing team privately. Protecting you in that situation is part of their job, and they do it regularly.

Selection

How we choose the centre

Programme volume

How many living donor transplants of your type the unit performs each year. In transplant surgery the relationship between volume and outcome is among the strongest anywhere in medicine.

Donor outcomes, stated

A programme should be able to tell you its donor complication rate without hesitation. Reluctance to discuss donor outcomes is the clearest warning sign there is.

Intensive care and hepatology or nephrology depth

Transplant is won or lost in the weeks after surgery. A dedicated transplant intensive care unit, and physicians managing immunosuppression daily, matter as much as the surgeon.

Ask any programme two questions: how many living donor transplants they performed last year, and what their donor complication rate is. Both should be answered immediately.

Honestly

Risks, and who should not travel

Transplant carries substantial risk for the recipient and real risk for the donor. Rejection, infection under immunosuppression, bleeding, bile leak, vascular complications and death are all genuine possibilities, and their likelihood depends on how unwell the recipient is beforehand. Ask your surgeon for their programme's own figures for a patient in your condition, and treat any reassuring number quoted before your reports are examined as a marketing number.

Some patients should not travel

Decompensated liver disease

Vomiting blood, confusion, uncontrolled fluid or deep jaundice all need stabilising locally first. Flying in that state is dangerous.

Active infection

Infection must be treated and cleared before transplant, because immunosuppression afterwards would allow it to spread unchecked.

No eligible donor

If no near relative is willing and medically suitable, the journey cannot succeed. We will say so at the outset rather than after you have spent money.

Cancer outside accepted criteria

Liver cancer beyond established size and number limits, or cancer elsewhere in the body, generally rules out transplant. We will explain why rather than take the case.

Ongoing alcohol use

Where alcohol caused the liver disease, a documented period of abstinence is required by every credible programme. This is a medical requirement, not a moral judgement.

We turn away more transplant enquiries than any other kind, usually because no eligible donor exists. Telling you that immediately is more useful than a quotation.

Your journey

What your journey looks like

A liver transplant recipient with a sibling donor, from first message to going home.

01
Send reports — day one
Liver or kidney function, imaging, and crucially: who in the family is willing and able to donate, and their blood group.
02
Written opinion — within 48 hours
Whether transplant is indicated, whether your donor is likely eligible both medically and legally, and a cost range.
03
Embassy documentation — 4 to 8 weeks
Relationship certification from your country's mission. Start this immediately; it is almost always the slowest step.
04
Arrival and evaluation — 2 to 3 weeks
Full assessment of recipient and donor separately, including independent psychological assessment of the donor.
05
Authorisation Committee
Donor and recipient are interviewed separately. Approval is required before surgery can be scheduled.
06
Surgery and intensive care — 3 to 4 weeks
Donor and recipient operate in parallel. The donor is usually discharged within ten days.
07
Monitoring before flying — 4 to 8 weeks
Immunosuppression is adjusted, drug levels stabilised, and any rejection episode treated before you travel.
08
Lifelong follow-up from home
A written medication protocol, blood test schedule, and remote review with your transplant team. Included, not extra.
Send reports for assessment
Questions

Questions families ask

No, and nobody legally can. Indian law permits transplant for foreign nationals only from a near relative — parent, child, sibling, spouse or grandparent — with the relationship certified by your country's embassy and the case approved by a hospital Authorisation Committee. Commercial dealing in organs is a criminal offence carrying imprisonment. Any company or individual offering to arrange a donor is proposing something illegal that would expose you and your family to prosecution in India. Walk away from them.

Under the Act, near relatives are parents, children, brothers, sisters, spouse, grandparents and grandchildren. Other relatives and unrelated donors may apply through the Authorisation Committee under stricter scrutiny, and for foreign nationals this is considerably harder. Your embassy must certify the relationship documentation, so start that process early — it is frequently the slowest part of the timeline.

It is a major operation on a healthy person, and it carries real risk that must never be minimised. Liver donation is the more substantial of the two, with a small but genuine risk of serious complication and a very small risk of death. Kidney donation is safer, usually laparoscopic, and most donors return to normal life within weeks. Any centre unwilling to discuss these figures frankly is the wrong centre.

At any time, for any reason, without giving one — and a good transplant team will protect them in doing so. Donors are assessed independently, including psychologically, precisely to ensure the decision is free of family pressure. If you feel pressed into donating, tell the assessing team privately. They will find a medical reason to stand you down.

Plan on three to four months in India for a liver transplant recipient and two to three for a kidney. Before that, embassy documentation and Authorisation Committee approval typically add four to eight weeks. Starting the paperwork early is the single most useful thing you can do — the medical timeline is rarely the bottleneck.

Immunosuppressive medication continues for life, with regular blood tests to check drug levels and organ function. Stopping or reducing it without instruction causes rejection and can lose the organ. We send you home with a written protocol, arrange remote reviews with your transplant team here, and remain available to your local doctor.

In practice, no. Deceased-donor organs in India are allocated through a national registry to patients within the Indian system, and foreign nationals travelling for treatment cannot access them. This is why every transplant we arrange involves a living near-relative donor, and why establishing that a donor exists is the first question we ask.

Related pages: Transplant law in India, in full  ·  Transplant cost in India  ·  Bone marrow transplant  ·  Liver and digestive treatment  ·  Medical visa guides

Contact

Send us your reports

Tell us who in the family is willing to donate and what their blood group is. That single piece of information determines more than anything else whether a transplant is possible.

Your reports go directly to our medical team. We do not share your records with hospitals until you tell us to.

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