Knee replacement surgery in India is world class and patients get huge cost savings. Patients from the UK, US and Canada are increasingly choosing India as the number one destination for knee, hip and shoulder joint replacements and hip resurfacing. Indian surgeons are well trained and Indian hospitals have an infrastructure on a par with that of the West. A large population of baby boomers who lack insurance and cannot afford private treatment in Western socialized health systems has fueled demand for joint replacements. The high success rate, affordable costs and safety of the surgical procedure are the main factors that attract foreign patients to Indian hospitals.

The costs are very reasonable and are less than a similar procedure in countries such as Thailand, Singapore, South American countries and only a tenth of the cost in the West. A price range of US$5,000 to US$7,000 is quoted for a knee replacement depending on the type of implant chosen and the class of accommodation. The implants and prosthetics are designed and manufactured in the West and are FDA approved. In some cases, even implants that did not have FDA approval, such as the Birmingham hip, Oxford knee, were available in India before they could be obtained in the US.

If you know that your surgeon is trained abroad, then that is reassuring. The infrastructure of the hospital is of vital importance. Operating theaters in some of the major Indian hospitals provide “ultra-clean air” with ideal parameters. Exponential laminar airflow is ideal where the air is changed 25 times per hour. The supplied air is treated with special HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters with an efficiency of 99.99%, so that the possibility of infection is reduced to the level of