What a treatment trip from the Gulf actually involves

Before you fly

Call or WhatsApp us and send whatever reports, scans or test results you already have. For termination of pregnancy, the date of your last menstrual period and any scan is usually enough for the doctor to tell you what to expect. For fertility treatment, this is when investigations already done in the Gulf can be reviewed and anything still needed identified, so less time is spent repeating tests once you arrive. Read exactly how that first conversation works.

Most patients from the Gulf travel to India on an e-Medical visa, a category the Indian government created specifically for patients coming for treatment, with a matching e-Medical Attendant visa for anyone travelling with you. Apply through the official Indian government visa portal and check the current requirements yourself, since the rules and eligible nationalities can change and this is not something we administer or control.

What needs you here in person, and what does not

Some things genuinely cannot be done at a distance. For termination of pregnancy, the scan that confirms gestation is done in person before anything else, and then either the medication course or the surgical procedure itself needs you here — surgical termination is usually a single day-care visit; the medical route is usually spread over a couple of visits a few days apart. For fertility treatment, ovarian stimulation is monitored with a series of scans and blood tests over roughly ten to fourteen days, so that part of a cycle needs you in Goa; egg collection and embryo transfer both need you physically present on the day, and a semen sample or a micro-TESE procedure for male infertility needs the same.

Exactly how many visits and how many days apply to you depends on your own situation, and your consultant will set out a realistic schedule once he has seen your reports and, where needed, examined you.

One hospital, one consultant, throughout

The doctor you speak to by phone is the doctor who examines you, and who operates or carries out the procedure, in the same building — the operating theatre and the embryology laboratory are both at Vaddem, Vasco-da-Gama. You are not handed between departments or between doctors during your visit.

The consent form, and what it signifies

A termination requires the consent form the Indian government prescribes to be signed, and that form exists only at premises licensed for this — a pharmacy may not dispense the medicines without it. It protects you: it records that the decision was yours, taken with a doctor who had examined you, at a place licensed to do it.

The figure you are given is the figure you pay

Send your reports and we can usually give you a close estimate before you book anything. It rests on a recent ultrasound, though, and cannot account for an examination that has not happened yet. Once you are here and the hospital's own certified doctors have assessed and examined you, you are given a precise, itemised cost — hospital, medical, pharmacy and laboratory. That becomes a promised package in rupees, and it does not move at the end. See cost of abortion in India and the full abortion services overview for more.

Getting around once you land

The hospital runs its own cars within Goa and the neighbouring border states. Once you are in Goa, we collect you and bring you back, free of cost — from the airport, from wherever you are staying, or from anywhere else in the state. This is a Goa-side service; it does not cover the international leg of your journey.

If a cycle or a procedure needs to be repeated

Fertility treatment does not always succeed on the first cycle, and a termination can occasionally be incomplete and need a follow-up procedure — this happens with any provider, anywhere, and it is not a sign that anything went wrong. If it happens, your consultant will explain what a repeat cycle or a follow-up visit would involve for you specifically, and you are welcome to ask about it before you travel the first time, not just after.

Flying home

Once your procedure or your embryo transfer is done, your consultant will tell you when it is realistic to fly. Plan a day or two of buffer rather than booking a flight for the same evening.

If this is not something discussed openly where you live

The whole visit — from the first WhatsApp message to the flight home — is built around your privacy. Read how confidentiality actually works here, and what is lawful once you arrive on our page on Indian law for Gulf patients.

This page is for general education and is not personal medical advice. Treatment depends on your own examination and reports, so please speak to a doctor about your situation. We do not carry out or offer sex determination of any kind.