Checked on 21 September 2026
India Medical Cart is a medical travel facilitator, not a hospital and not a doctor. We do not hold your funds, and we never invoice a patient or a sponsor for treatment.
What Goes in the File
- A written quote from every hospital we approach, itemised, so you can see what is covered and what is not.
- The accreditation, with the date we checked it. Not a badge with no date behind it.
- The doctor's qualifications and where they practise, and the date we last checked. Where we could not verify a registration number against the public register, we say so in writing rather than leave the gap unexplained.
- Whether a partnership agreement exists between us and that hospital, or that one does not.
Where the Money Goes
- The hospital raises the invoice, in the patient's name. We do not invoice for treatment and we do not issue a consolidated bill on a hospital's behalf.
- Payment goes to the hospital's own account. No money passes through us, and we never hold a sponsor's funds.
- You pay India Medical Cart nothing, and neither does the patient.
- We will not pay you, and we will not ask you for anything in return. The Indian Medical Council's Code of Ethics Regulations, 2002 bars a physician from giving or receiving any gift, gratuity, commission or bonus for referring a patient (clause 6.4.1). A facilitator paying a referral office would be asking Indian doctors and hospitals to work against their own code.
The Gap Between the Quote and the Bill
A written quote is not a final bill, and the difference is usually where a sponsored case goes wrong. A hospital quote normally covers the tests before treatment, the treatment itself, the room and nursing, and the medicines given in hospital. It usually does not cover flights, any visa fee, somewhere to stay after discharge, food, local travel, extra nights, extra tests, or treatment for a complication.
That gap is not theoretical for a scheme. In the Maldives, where a government scheme covers treatment abroad, 53.8% of patients still reported paying out of pocket. Asking for both sides of the quote in writing, before anyone travels, is what closes it.
If a price changes after the doctors examine the patient in person, we ask the hospital for the reason in writing and send it to you before anything is agreed.
Out-of-pocket figure: published study of Maldivian patients, 2013. See Editorial Policy for how we date and source a fact.
If You Are Placing a Child
A large share of sponsored referrals are children. In Oman's official treatment-abroad programme, 46.4% of patients referred were children, and 82% of that programme's referrals went to India.
A child changes what the file has to contain. Two parents usually need to travel, not one, so the attendant visas and the accommodation are part of the cost from the start rather than an afterthought. Tell us at the enquiry that the patient is a child and who will travel, and the quotes will be built around that.
Oman Department of Treatment Abroad, 2022–23, 1,428 referrals.
How to Start
One named coordinator answers you and stays with the case. We reply within one working day.
Send one case. You will get the quotes and the accreditation dates in writing, and you can judge the whole arrangement on that file before you send a second.
This page is general information, not medical advice. Whether a treatment is right for you is decided by the treating doctor after reviewing your reports.