Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the visa, accreditation, legal and clinical terms you will meet when planning treatment in India.
Accreditation & quality
Indian Medical Register
The Indian Medical Register is the National Medical Commission’s searchable online record of doctors registered with State Medical Councils across India.
JCI accreditation
JCI accreditation is a voluntary international quality and patient-safety assessment awarded by Joint Commission International to hospitals and other healthcare organisations.
NABH accreditation
NABH accreditation is India’s national quality accreditation for hospitals and other healthcare providers, granted by a constituent board of the Quality Council of India.
NABL accreditation
NABL accreditation confirms that an Indian laboratory meets international standards for its stated tests; medical testing laboratories are accredited against ISO 15189.
National Medical Commission (NMC)
The National Medical Commission is India’s statutory body, set up under the NMC Act 2019, that regulates medical education and medical practitioners.
Clinical terms
Second opinion
A second opinion is the view of a doctor other than your current doctor, who reviews your records and diagnosis and may confirm or suggest changes to the plan.
Tumour board
A tumour board is a regular meeting where cancer doctors and other specialists review new and complex cases and agree a treatment plan together.
Hospital & care
Admission deposit
An admission deposit is an advance payment a hospital may ask for at or before admission, adjusted later against the final bill.
Case manager
A case manager is a non-clinical coordinator who guides a patient through the practical steps of treatment, from sharing reports to follow-up after returning home.
Hospital cost estimate
A hospital cost estimate is a written projection from a hospital of the expected charges for a proposed treatment, based on the reports it has reviewed.
Informed consent
Informed consent is a patient’s voluntary permission for a test or treatment, given with capacity after an explanation of its benefits, risks and alternatives.
Inpatient care
Inpatient care is treatment given after a formal admission to hospital, usually involving at least one overnight stay under a doctor’s order.
Intensive care unit (ICU)
An intensive care unit is a specialist hospital ward that treats and closely monitors people who are very ill, often with support for one or more organs.
International patient department
An international patient department is a hospital team that handles enquiries, visa letters, scheduling and practical support for patients travelling from abroad.
Medical attendant
A medical attendant is a relative or friend who travels with a patient for treatment in India, supports them during the stay and holds a matching attendant visa.
Medical interpreter
A medical interpreter is a trained person who conveys spoken communication between patients and health professionals who do not share a language.
Multidisciplinary team
A multidisciplinary team is a group of doctors and other health professionals from different specialties who plan and deliver a patient’s care together.
Outpatient care
Outpatient care is diagnosis or treatment at a health facility without staying overnight; the patient goes home or to their accommodation the same day.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy is treatment by trained physiotherapists using exercise, manual therapy and advice to reduce pain and restore movement, strength and function.
Post-operative follow-up
Post-operative follow-up is the scheduled monitoring, tests and care after surgery to check healing, adjust treatment and detect complications early.
Pre-anaesthetic check-up
A pre-anaesthetic check-up is an assessment, often by an anaesthetist, to confirm a patient is fit for anaesthesia and to plan it safely.
Referral fee
A referral fee is a payment a hospital makes to a facilitator or referral service for patients who choose to be treated there.
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is a set of interventions that optimise functioning and reduce disability in people with health conditions, delivered by a team of trained professionals.
Teleconsultation
A teleconsultation is a consultation with a health professional by video or phone instead of in person.
Treatment package
A treatment package is a fixed hospital price for a defined procedure and length of stay, with listed inclusions and exclusions.
Law & regulation
ART (Regulation) Act 2021
The ART (Regulation) Act 2021 is India’s law requiring registration of assisted reproduction clinics and banks and setting rules on consent, donors, embryos and sex selection.
Deceased organ donation
Deceased organ donation is the donation of organs after death, including after brain-stem death certified by a board of medical experts.
Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023
The DPDP Act 2023 is India’s law governing how digital personal data is processed, setting consent rules, individual rights and duties for organisations that handle data.
Form 21 (transplant)
Form 21 is the certificate of relationship between donor and recipient in the case of foreigners, required under India’s Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2014.
Hospital authorisation committee
A hospital authorisation committee is the body set up under India’s THO Rules 2014 to approve or reject living-donor transplant applications.
Living organ donor
A living organ donor is a person who gives an organ, such as a kidney or part of the liver, while alive.
National ART and Surrogacy Registry
The National ART and Surrogacy Registry is India’s central online database of registered ART clinics, ART banks and surrogacy clinics, set up under the ART Act 2021.
NOTTO
NOTTO is India’s apex government body for organ and tissue transplantation, implementing the National Organ Transplant Programme and keeping the national donor and recipient registry.
ROTTO and SOTTO
ROTTOs and SOTTOs are the regional and state organisations that work under NOTTO to coordinate organ and tissue donation, retrieval and allocation across India.
Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021 is India’s law banning commercial surrogacy and limiting altruistic gestational surrogacy to eligible Indian couples and Indian women under strict conditions.
Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA)
THOTA is used here for India’s Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 and the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Rules 2014 made under it.
Tests & reports
Biopsy
A biopsy is the removal of a small piece of tissue so that it can be examined in a laboratory.
Blood group and cross-match
Blood grouping identifies a person’s ABO group and Rh factor; cross-matching tests donor blood against the patient’s blood before transfusion.
Complete blood count (CBC)
A complete blood count is a blood test that measures red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, haemoglobin and haematocrit.
Coronary angiography
Coronary angiography is a procedure that uses contrast dye and X-rays, delivered through a thin catheter, to show blood flow in the heart’s arteries.
CT scan
A CT scan is an imaging test that uses X-ray equipment and a computer to create cross-sectional pictures of the inside of the body.
DICOM images
DICOM is the international standard for medical images and related information, used by X-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound equipment.
Discharge summary
A discharge summary is the written record a hospital gives when a patient leaves, describing the diagnosis, treatment, medicines and follow-up instructions.
Echocardiogram
An echocardiogram is an ultrasound scan of the heart that shows its chambers, valves and pumping function while it beats.
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
An electrocardiogram is a painless test that records the heart’s electrical activity through small electrodes placed on the chest, arms and legs.
HbA1c test
The HbA1c test measures the percentage of haemoglobin coated with glucose, reflecting average blood sugar over about the past two to three months.
Histopathology report
A histopathology report is a pathologist’s written description of tissue examined under a microscope, giving the diagnosis on which treatment is planned.
HLA typing
HLA typing is a blood test that identifies a person’s human leukocyte antigens, proteins used to match donors and recipients for transplants.
Kidney function tests
Kidney function tests are blood and urine tests, sometimes with imaging, that show how well the kidneys filter waste from the blood.
Liver function tests
Liver function tests are a group of blood tests measuring substances made or processed by the liver, such as enzymes, albumin and bilirubin.
Medical records
Medical records are the documents and files that describe a person’s health history, test results, diagnoses and treatment.
MRI scan
An MRI scan is an imaging test that uses strong magnets, radio waves and a computer to create detailed pictures of organs and soft tissues.
PET-CT scan
A PET-CT scan combines a PET scan, which uses a small amount of radioactive tracer, with a CT scan to give detailed images of body tissues.
Pre-operative work-up
A pre-operative work-up is the set of history, examination, tests and specialist reviews used to check a patient is ready for a planned operation.
Treatment
Bariatric surgery
Bariatric surgery is a group of operations that change the stomach or intestines to help people with obesity lose weight and improve related conditions.
Bone marrow transplant
A bone marrow transplant replaces blood-forming stem cells destroyed by high-dose treatment, using the patient’s own cells or cells from a matched donor.
Cataract surgery
Cataract surgery is an operation to remove the eye’s clouded lens and usually replace it with an artificial intraocular lens to restore clear vision.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs that kill or slow the growth of fast-dividing cancer cells, usually given in cycles of treatment and rest.
Coronary angioplasty
Coronary angioplasty is a catheter procedure that widens a narrowed heart artery with a balloon, usually followed by placing a stent.
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)
CABG is open-heart surgery that uses a blood vessel taken from elsewhere in the body to bypass blocked coronary arteries.
Coronary stent
A coronary stent is a small expandable metal mesh tube placed in a narrowed heart artery during angioplasty to help keep it open.
Day-care procedure
A day-care procedure is a planned treatment or operation after which the patient is discharged on the same day without an overnight hospital stay.
Dental implant
A dental implant is a surgically placed post in the jawbone, usually titanium or zirconia, that acts as an artificial root for a crown, bridge or denture.
Dialysis
Dialysis is treatment that removes wastes and excess fluid from the blood when the kidneys fail, most commonly by haemodialysis through an external filter.
Embryo transfer
Embryo transfer is the IVF step in which an embryo created in the laboratory is placed into the uterus through a thin catheter.
Gastric bypass
Gastric bypass is a weight-loss operation that creates a small stomach pouch and connects it to the small intestine, bypassing most of the stomach.
Heart valve replacement
Heart valve replacement is surgery that removes a damaged heart valve and replaces it with a mechanical or biological prosthetic valve.
ICSI
ICSI is an IVF technique in which an embryologist injects one sperm directly into each mature egg to help fertilisation, usually for male-factor infertility.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is cancer treatment that uses substances made from living organisms to strengthen or direct the immune system against cancer cells.
IVF
IVF is assisted reproduction in which eggs are collected, fertilised with sperm in a laboratory and a resulting embryo is placed in the uterus.
Kidney transplant
A kidney transplant is surgery that places a healthy kidney from a living or deceased donor into a person with kidney failure.
Laparoscopy
Laparoscopy is keyhole surgery in which a camera on a thin tube is passed through a small abdominal incision to examine or operate on organs.
LASIK
LASIK is refractive surgery that uses lasers to create a corneal flap and reshape the underlying cornea to correct short-sight, long-sight or astigmatism.
Liver transplant
A liver transplant replaces a diseased liver with a whole liver from a deceased donor or part of a liver from a living donor.
Minimally invasive surgery
Minimally invasive surgery is operating through small incisions with a camera and specialised instruments, including laparoscopic and robotic-assisted techniques, rather than a large open incision.
Proton therapy
Proton therapy is external beam radiotherapy that uses proton particles, which deposit their energy at the tumour and stop, instead of X-ray photons.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy is cancer treatment that uses high-energy radiation, from outside or inside the body, to damage cancer cells’ DNA and stop their growth.
Robotic-assisted surgery
Robotic-assisted surgery is a minimally invasive technique in which a surgeon at a console controls instruments on robotic arms through small incisions.
Root canal treatment
Root canal treatment is a dental procedure that removes infected pulp from inside a tooth, then cleans, shapes, fills and seals the root canals.
Sleeve gastrectomy
Sleeve gastrectomy is an irreversible weight-loss operation that removes a large part of the stomach, leaving a narrow tube-shaped stomach.
Spinal fusion
Spinal fusion is surgery that permanently joins two or more vertebrae using bone graft, often with rods, screws or cages, to stop movement between them.
TAVI
TAVI is a catheter procedure that implants a new biological aortic valve inside a narrowed one, without open-heart surgery, to treat severe aortic stenosis.
Total hip replacement
Total hip replacement is surgery that replaces the damaged ball and socket of the hip with a prosthetic joint to relieve pain and restore movement.
Total knee replacement
Total knee replacement is surgery that replaces the worn surfaces of the knee joint with metal and plastic components to relieve pain and improve movement.
Visa & travel
Ayush visa
The Ayush visa is an Indian visa category for foreign nationals seeking treatment, therapeutic care, wellness or yoga under Ayush and other Indian systems of medicine.
e-FRRO
e-FRRO is the Government of India’s web portal through which foreigners in India apply online for registration, visa extension, exit permits and other immigration services.
e-Medical Attendant visa
The e-Medical Attendant visa is an electronic visa for a person accompanying a patient who holds an Indian e-Medical visa.
e-Medical visa
The e-Medical visa is an electronic visa issued through India’s official e-Visa portal to foreign nationals travelling for medical treatment at a hospital in India.
Fitness to fly
Fitness to fly is a doctor’s judgement that a patient can travel safely by air, sometimes confirmed in writing for the airline.
FRRO registration
FRRO registration is the process by which certain foreign nationals record their stay with India’s Foreigners Regional Registration Office or Foreigners Registration Office.
Heal in India
Heal in India is the Government of India’s initiative to promote medical value travel, including an official portal for international patients and related visa measures.
Indian e-Visa portal
The Indian e-Visa portal is the Government of India website at indianvisaonline.gov.in where foreign nationals apply for electronic visas, including e-Medical and e-Ayush visas.
Medical tourism facilitator
A medical tourism facilitator is an intermediary that helps international patients identify providers, share records and organise travel and logistics for treatment abroad.
Medical value travel
Medical value travel is the Indian government’s term for international patients travelling to India for medical treatment, wellness or traditional systems of medicine.
Regular medical visa (MED visa)
The regular medical visa is a paper visa issued by an Indian embassy or consulate to a foreign national seeking treatment at a recognised hospital or treatment centre in India.
Travel health insurance
Travel health insurance is cover for medical costs and, often, medical evacuation while travelling abroad, subject to the policy’s terms and exclusions.
Wellness
Ayurveda
Ayurveda is India’s traditional medical system using diet, lifestyle, herbal preparations and therapies, recognised and overseen by the Government of India’s Ministry of Ayush.
AYUSH
AYUSH is the collective term for Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homoeopathy, overseen by India’s Ministry of Ayush.
Panchakarma
Panchakarma is a group of five Ayurvedic purification procedures, preceded by oleation and sudation, carried out under the supervision of qualified Ayurveda physicians.
Send us your reports. We’ll do the rest.
A case manager reviews your reports, shares them with suitable accredited hospitals and comes back with treatment options, the specialists involved and written estimates — free, with no obligation.