Air ambulance and patient transfers
Moving a patient between hospitals, cities or countries involves doctors, hospitals, operators, airports and family, all at once. These guides explain each part of the process so you know what to expect and what to ask.
Guide 01 How an air ambulance transfer works, from bed to bed
What actually happens between the sending hospital bed and the receiving hospital bed, who is responsible for each step, and what the family needs to do.
Read the guide
Guide 02 Air ambulance or a commercial flight with a medical escort?
How doctors decide between a dedicated air ambulance and a scheduled airline flight with a doctor or nurse alongside, and what each option involves.
Read the guide
Guide 03 Fitness to fly, and what doctors assess before a patient travels
Who decides whether a patient is fit to fly, what they look at, why the cabin environment matters, and what families can do while the decision is made.
Read the guide
Guide 04 Documents needed for a hospital-to-hospital transfer
A practical checklist of the medical, identity and consent documents usually needed for a domestic or international patient transfer, and who provides each one.
Read the guide
Guide 05 Ground ambulances and airport coordination during a transfer
The road and airport legs of a patient transfer, why their timing matters, and what is arranged at the sending and receiving ends.
Read the guide
Guide 06 Does insurance cover air ambulance and medical repatriation?
How travel and health insurance policies typically treat air ambulance and repatriation costs, what insurers ask for, and how to avoid delays.
Read the guide
Guide 07 Bringing a patient home to India from abroad
What medical repatriation to India involves, how the foreign hospital, the Indian receiving hospital, the operator and the insurer fit together, and what the family should do first.
Read the guide
Guide 08 What families should know on transfer day
What happens on the day a patient is moved between hospitals, when the family will hear from the coordinator, and how to prepare.
Read the guideMore guides
Every stage of the journey has its own questions. Continue with another collection, or look up a term in the glossary.
Coordination desk · 24 hours a day
Questions about a specific patient?
Guides explain the general process. For a specific journey, a coordinator can tell you what applies and what happens next.
In a medical emergency, call 112 in India or your local emergency number first.