Kenya
A published study measured it: nearly a third of the Kenyan cancer patients it tracked were treated in India.
Not an agency claim. A peer-reviewed case-control study, run by researchers including staff at a Kenyan teaching hospital, that counted where patients went. This page is built around what that study, and Kenya’s own government figures, show.
nearly 10,000 Kenyans travelled to India for medical treatment this year, India’s High Commissioner to Kenya, Dr Adarsh Swaika, said at his first press briefing after presenting credentials
9,357
medical-purpose foreign tourist arrivals came from Kenya in 2025, per Government of India Ministry of Tourism data. Kenya ranked seventh nationally that year, behind Bangladesh, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Turkmenistan and Oman
Press Information Bureau, Government of India, "Medical and Wellness Tourism in India" Checked 2026-09-13.
This government arrivals count (9,357) is a different, independent dataset from the High Commissioner’s own figure (nearly 10,000), not a restatement of it. The two are close enough to corroborate each other without being the same number from the same source.
That is a diplomat’s own estimate sitting close to a separate, independent government count, not one number restated as two. What neither tells you is whether a specific hospital or a specific treatment plan is right for one specific diagnosis.
We arrange an independent specialist opinion that answers that question, for a fee paid by you, and we take nothing from any hospital.
Medically reviewed
Reviewed by Dr Gunjan Patel, MBBS, registered with the Gujarat Medical Council (G-65059). Reviewed for accuracy only. This page is general information, not advice about your own case, and Dr Gunjan Patel does not diagnose, prescribe or treat.
The strongest evidence on this page
A real study, not an estimate, measured where cancer patients went.
This is a different kind of evidence from every other country page on this site.
31.5 percent
of a 254-patient Kenyan cancer cohort were treated in India rather than domestically in Kenya, in a peer-reviewed case-control study by researchers including staff at a Kenyan teaching hospital
Wangai et al., "Understanding and comparing the medical tourism cancer patient with the locally managed patient: A case control study", PLOS One, 21 September 2022 Checked 2026-09-13.
A single case-control study from one research group, not a national registry figure, and specific to cancer care. It should not be read as the referral rate for other specialties.
That is a measured share from a tracked cohort, published in a peer-reviewed journal, not a marketing statistic. It is the closest thing to a real referral rate that exists for any country covered on this site, for one specialty, cancer care specifically.
What this study does, and does not, prove
- Proves a real, measured share of cancer patients in the study went to India
- Comes from one research group’s cohort, not a national registry
- Is specific to cancer care, and should not be assumed for other specialties
- Does not tell you whether India is right for your specific diagnosis
What sits behind the numbers
Direct flights and a long-established community, not marketing.
Kenya has direct flight connections to India, and a large, long-established Indian-origin business and professional community. Direct flights are a checkable fact. The community’s role in building referral relationships is plausible context, not something we can point to a single source for, so we are stating it as that rather than as settled fact.
What we will not do is claim the same strength of evidence for orthopaedics, cardiac care, transplant or neurosurgery that the oncology study above gives cancer care. Kenyan patients travel to India for a wider range of conditions than one study can measure, and where facilitator sites list a specific specialty, we have not independently verified their figures. Tell us your actual diagnosis and we will give you a straight answer, not a category built to fit a keyword.
Who pays for the advice you get
A well travelled route attracts businesses paid to say yes.
Wherever real numbers of patients travel a route, companies form to arrange the trip. Some are paid by the hospital that receives the patient, not by the patient, which is worth knowing before you take advice from anyone.
Referral fees
can be paid to a medical travel facilitator by the hospital abroad, and a review of the research on facilitators, published in 2012, says patients may not know how much, or in what manner, a facilitator is paid
A review of earlier research, read as the authors’ manuscript. It says some facilitators are paid by their clients and others by facilities or physicians abroad, gives no proportion and no rate, and says there is little evidence on whether such payments influence recommendations. We found no readable source that gives a commission percentage, so we do not print one. The book is dated 2012 and the university repository record 2013. A consultant’s account of price padding shown elsewhere on the site is hers, attributed to her, and not a rate we have verified. Commission is one model in this market, not the only one, and we never say every company works this way.
That does not make every such company dishonest. It does mean the recommendation you receive has a financial direction built into it, and nobody paid that way has a structural reason to tell you an operation is unnecessary or that a cheaper hospital would do the same job as well.
We are paid by you, once, and we take nothing from any hospital afterwards. This is exactly how that works, and this is how it compares to the commission model above.
Questions
What Kenyan patients and families ask us.
I don't have cancer. Does the study on this page still apply to me?
Not directly. That study measured cancer patients specifically, and we are not going to stretch it to cover conditions it never looked at. If your diagnosis is something else, tell us what it is and we will give you a specific answer for your case, not a borrowed statistic.
Is the 9,357 figure the same as the High Commissioner's number?
No, and that is worth knowing. They are two separate, independent counts, a diplomat’s own estimate and a government arrivals figure, that happen to sit close together. Two different sources landing near the same number is a reason for more confidence, not less, but they should not be quoted as if they were one figure restated twice.
Can you recommend a specific hospital for my diagnosis?
We arrange an independent specialist opinion built around your actual case, which is how a hospital and surgeon should get chosen, rather than us naming one upfront and working backwards to justify it.
Why would I pay you when an agent arranges everything for free?
Because a company earning nothing unless you travel and undergo treatment has already decided the answer before it meets you. We charge a fee specifically so our answer can be no, and sometimes it is.
Who looks after me once I am back in Kenya?
A doctor there, agreed before you travel rather than found afterwards. This is why our involvement runs for ninety days after you return rather than ending at the airport. How the ninety days work.
Get a specific answer, not a category.
Thirty minutes, free. We will tell you plainly what your case needs, before either of us spends more time on it.