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Lung transplant cost in Bangalore: the real numbers

No hospital in Bangalore publishes a lung transplant price, which leaves families guessing at the largest medical decision of their lives. This page sets out the figures at KIMS Hospital, Electronic City, how the Karnataka waiting list works, and the costs that estimates routinely leave out.

Medically reviewed Written and reviewed by Dr. Manjunath M Negigoudara, Transplant Pulmonologist, KIMS Hospital, Electronic City, Bengaluru. KMC 116911. Last reviewed · 1 peer-reviewed sources

250+

Lung transplants personally managed

780+

Thoracic transplants at KIMS

India’s 1st

Redo double lung transplant

ERJ · JHLT

Peer-reviewed publications

How much does a lung transplant cost in Bangalore?

Bar chart of lung transplant costs at KIMS Electronic City Bengaluru: pre-transplant evaluation 4.5 to 6 lakh rupees, the transplant package 36 lakh, ECMO 5 to 15 lakh when needed, donor organ air transport 4 to 15 lakh when needed
Lung transplant cost at KIMS Electronic City by component. Bar length shows the top of each range.

Most pages about transplant cost make you read for ten minutes before giving a number. Here they are first, for a lung transplant at KIMS Hospital, Electronic City, Bengaluru.

What Approximate cost When it applies
Pre-transplant evaluation ₹4.5 to 6 lakh Every patient, before listing. Establishes whether transplant is possible at all.
The transplant package ₹36 lakh Surgery, theatre, intensive care and the initial recovery in an uncomplicated case.
ECMO support ₹5 to 15 lakh additional Only if needed to bridge a deteriorating patient to surgery. Varies with duration.
Donor organ air transport ₹4 to 15 lakh additional Only when the donor is in another city and the organ must be flown.
Lifelong immunosuppression Ongoing monthly Every patient, for life. The cost that outlasts all the others.
Surveillance and follow-up Ongoing Frequent in the first year, then reducing. Bronchoscopy, imaging and blood levels.

These figures are for KIMS Electronic City and are indicative rather than quoted. A written estimate for your specific case is available once it is known whether you are a candidate and whether a single or double transplant is likely. The full India cost guide breaks each bucket down in detail, and financing a lung transplant in India covers loans, crowdfunding and insurance in depth.

The number that is not on this table

The cost of not being assessed. The ISHLT 2021 consensus is that referral should happen while a patient is still well enough to be assessed. Patients referred late frequently arrive too unwell to complete an evaluation, and at that point the question of cost never arises because transplant is no longer an option. An assessment is the cheapest part of this entire process and it is the one that determines whether the rest is even available to you.

Dr. Manjunath M Negigoudara

Transplant Pulmonologist, KIMS

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How do I register on the Karnataka lung transplant waiting list?

Deceased-donor organ allocation in Karnataka is run by Jeevasarthakathe, the Karnataka State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, which sits under the national framework administered by NOTTO. Registration is done by your transplant centre on your behalf once the evaluation is complete, and the listing itself does not carry a fee.

Two practical points that are rarely explained to patients. Allocation works outward, offering organs within the state before they are offered more widely, so where you are registered matters. And registration cannot happen until the evaluation is finished, which is why the evaluation is the step to get moving on rather than the one to defer while you arrange finances.

Organs are never bought or sold in India. Any offer to shorten a waiting list in exchange for money is describing a criminal offence under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, and should be reported. Official information is at jeevasarthakathe.karnataka.gov.in and notto.mohfw.gov.in.

What costs are left out of a transplant estimate?

These are the ones families discover late, and together they can add up to a significant sum over a waiting period that may run to months.

  • Staying near the hospital while you wait. Donor lungs tolerate very little delay, so you need to be able to reach KIMS Electronic City within a few hours of a call. Patients from elsewhere in Karnataka and from other states usually relocate to Bengaluru for the waiting period. Serviced accommodation near Electronic City along Hosur Road is the usual arrangement.
  • An attendant, for the whole period. A transplant candidate needs someone with them, before and especially after surgery. That is one person away from their own income for months.
  • Travel back and forth for follow-up. Surveillance is frequent in the first year. Patients who return to a home city far from Bengaluru should count the trips.
  • Oxygen and rehabilitation during the wait. Staying as strong as possible while waiting measurably improves how you do afterwards, and both cost money in the meantime.
  • Lost income. Most candidates have already stopped working by the time transplant is discussed. This is usually the largest uncounted cost of all.

Does insurance cover a lung transplant in India?

Health insurance coverage for transplantation varies a great deal between policies. Many have sub-limits that fall well short of the full package, and most apply waiting periods for pre-existing conditions, which matters because nearly every transplant candidate has carried their lung diagnosis for years. Corporate group policies sometimes cover more than individual ones.

The practical advice is the same for everyone: take your policy document to the financial counselling desk at KIMS Electronic City at the start of the evaluation rather than at admission. What is covered, what is excluded and what pre-authorisation will require can all be established while there is still time to act on the answer. Government scheme eligibility should be checked with the same desk, since criteria and coverage change and depend on your individual circumstances.

Where there is a shortfall, medical loans and crowdfunding are both used routinely by Indian transplant families. Financing a lung transplant in India covers the options and the pitfalls, including what to check before signing a medical loan.

What makes a lung transplant cost more or less?

  • Single or double transplant. Decided by the underlying disease rather than by preference. Infective conditions such as bronchiectasis require a double transplant.
  • Whether ECMO is needed. The largest single variable. A patient bridged on ECMO for weeks costs considerably more than one who walks into theatre.
  • Where the donor organ comes from. A local donor avoids the air transport cost entirely.
  • Complications. Primary graft dysfunction, infection, rejection or an airway complication each extend the intensive care stay.
  • How well prepared you are. Nutrition, muscle strength and control of other conditions before surgery all shorten recovery, and a shorter recovery is a cheaper one. This is the variable patients have the most influence over.

Bangalore as a transplant destination

Bengaluru is one of the small number of Indian cities with an established lung transplant programme, which is why patients travel here from across South India and beyond. The KIMS Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant has completed 780+ thoracic transplants, and Dr. Manjunath M Negigoudara has personally managed 250+ lung transplant cases within it. India's first redo double lung transplant was presented from this programme at the ESOT 2025 Congress in London.

Volume matters in transplantation more than in most of medicine, because outcomes depend on a whole team having done this many times: surgeons, intensivists, physiotherapists, transplant coordinators and the pharmacy managing immunosuppression. When comparing costs between centres, the question worth asking alongside price is how many lung transplants that centre performs in a year.

How do I get a written cost estimate?

Send your HRCT images, pulmonary function report including DLCO, echocardiogram, recent blood work and current medication list by WhatsApp to +91 79937 41199. Two things follow. First, an assessment of whether transplant is indicated at all, and when, which is the question that should be settled before cost. Second, once candidacy and the likely type of transplant are clear, a written estimate from the financial counselling team.

If you are not yet sure whether transplant is the right path, start with a second opinion instead. It is the cheaper first step and it frequently changes the answer.

For patients from Bangalore, across India, and abroad

Bengaluru and Karnataka

KIMS Hospital is on Hosur Road opposite the PES University EC Campus, Konappana Agrahara, Bengaluru 560100, about 15 minutes from Silk Board via the Electronic City elevated expressway. Patients attend from HSR Layout, Koramangala, Sarjapur Road, BTM Layout, Jayanagar, JP Nagar and Bannerghatta Road, from Bommasandra, Anekal and along Hosur Road, and from Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Shivamogga, Tumakuru, Davangere and Ballari. Karnataka residents have the practical advantage of registering within the state where their evaluation is done.

The rest of India

Patients come from Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Hyderabad, Warangal, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Guntur, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Kannur, Goa, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Delhi NCR, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi and Raipur. Plan for relocation to Bengaluru during the waiting period and build that into the budget from the start. Kempegowda International Airport is about 45 km from the hospital.

International patients

Patients are evaluated from Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bhutan, from Oman, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria and Ghana, and from Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia. Send your imaging and reports by WhatsApp for a remote opinion first. Where transplant is recommended, a written clinical opinion can support a medical visa application, and the financial counselling team issues an estimate covering the full stay. Costs in India remain a fraction of those in Western programmes.

Related reading

References

The clinical statements on this page are drawn from the peer-reviewed literature and international guidelines listed below. Each link opens the source on PubMed.

  1. Consensus document for the selection of lung transplant candidates: An update from the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation, 2021. PMID 34419372.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a lung transplant cost in Bangalore?
The transplant package at KIMS Hospital, Electronic City is approximately ₹36 lakh, covering the surgery, the theatre and intensive care stay, and the initial post-operative period for an uncomplicated case. Pre-transplant evaluation is a separate ₹4.5 to 6 lakh. Add ₹5 to 15 lakh if ECMO is needed and ₹4 to 15 lakh if a donor organ has to be flown in. Lifelong immunosuppression follows. See the full national cost breakdown.
Does registering on the Karnataka transplant waiting list cost anything?
Registration on the state deceased-donor waiting list through Jeevasarthakathe, the Karnataka State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, does not carry a fee for the listing itself. What costs money is the medical evaluation that must be completed before a transplant centre can register you, which is the ₹4.5 to 6 lakh workup. Organs are never bought or sold in India, and anyone suggesting otherwise is describing a criminal offence.
Is lung transplant covered by health insurance in India?
Coverage varies considerably between policies and many have sub-limits that fall well short of the full cost. Waiting periods for pre-existing conditions frequently apply, which matters because most transplant candidates have had their lung disease diagnosed for years. Bring your policy document to the financial counselling desk at KIMS Electronic City early rather than at admission, so that what is and is not covered is established before decisions are made.
Why does no Bangalore hospital publish lung transplant prices?
Because the final number genuinely varies with what each patient needs. A straightforward single lung transplant in a well-prepared patient and a double transplant in someone bridged on ECMO with a flown-in organ are different operations with different costs. That is a real reason, but it leaves families unable to plan. The figures on this page are given as ranges for exactly that reason, and a written estimate for your specific case is available on request.
How long is the wait for a lung transplant in Karnataka?
There is no fixed answer, because it depends on blood group, body size, how sick you are and how many suitable donors become available. What can be said is that registering early matters more than anything else within your control, and that patients who register late frequently deteriorate beyond the point where transplant remains possible. Registration happens through Jeevasarthakathe once your evaluation is complete.
Do I have to live in Bangalore while waiting?
You have to be reachable and able to get to the hospital quickly when a donor organ becomes available, because donor lungs tolerate very little delay. Patients from elsewhere in Karnataka and from other states generally relocate to Bengaluru for the waiting period, or arrange to be able to travel at a few hours notice. This accommodation cost is real and is routinely left out of estimates, so it is set out on this page.
Can I get a written cost estimate before committing to anything?
Yes. Send your HRCT, pulmonary function report and recent investigations by WhatsApp to +91 88670 59997. Once it is clear whether you are a candidate and whether a single or double transplant is likely, the financial counselling team can issue a written estimate for your case. Many patients find the more valuable first step is a second opinion on whether a transplant is needed at all.
How does the cost in Bangalore compare with other countries?
Lung transplantation in India is performed at a fraction of the cost in the United States or Western Europe, which is why patients travel here from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The comparison that matters is not price alone but outcomes at centres doing meaningful volume. The KIMS Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant has completed 780+ thoracic transplants.

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