PCNL Cost in New Delhi, India

The cost of PCNL in New Delhi typically ranges from $620 to $6,000 USD (about ₹58,800 to ₹5.69 lakh), depending on the hospital, room category and type of procedure.

A typical estimate for PCNL in New Delhi is around $2,000 (about ₹1.90 lakh). What you pay depends mainly on your own case. If your operation is planned, done by keyhole or a standard method, and you go home after a short stay, your bill is likely to be closer to $620 (about ₹58,800). It is likely to be nearer $6,000 (about ₹5.69 lakh) if you need open or robotic surgery, your condition is more complex, you stay longer or you choose a private room.

When comparing New Delhi packages for PCNL, check whether each quote includes:

• Surgeon and anaesthetist fees
• Operating theatre or procedure room
• Stents or catheters
• Hospital stay and room category
• Medicines and consumables
• Follow-up visits before you fly home

PCNL (percutaneous nephrolithotomy) removes large kidney stones through a small cut in the back, using a telescope passed directly into the kidney to break up and remove the stone.

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust explains that PCNL is usually used for kidney stones larger than about 2 cm, or stones that other treatments have not cleared.

Under general anaesthetic a small cut is made in the back and a channel created into the kidney, and the stone is broken up and removed through a telescope in an operation of about two to three hours.

University Hospitals Sussex reports a stay of about two to three days, with a drainage tube (nephrostomy) often left for one to two days and a return to work after two to four weeks.

It reports severe bleeding and injury to nearby organs each in fewer than 1 in 50, and the need for a second procedure in between 1 in 10 and 1 in 50.

Fit-to-fly window: UK aviation guidance gives no specific figure for this procedure, so fly after the surgeon's review and ask about clot prevention for long journeys.

A Delhi estimate for PCNL is usually built from these parts:

• Tests before surgery: blood tests, imaging and an anaesthetic check.
• Operating theatre and anaesthesia: billed largely by time in theatre.
• Surgeon grade: consultant fees vary between hospitals.
• Surgical approach: open, keyhole or robotic, where options exist.
• Stone: usually over 2 cm.
• Anaesthesia: general.
• Nephrostomy tube: for one to two days.
• Stay: often two to three days.

Check whether the Delhi quote covers the surgeon, theatre, any catheter or stent and its removal, the stay and follow-up tests.

Urology units in Delhi NCR's larger hospitals commonly provide endoscopic stone surgery and laparoscopic operations, and some also offer robotic surgery.

India's national hospital standard is set by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH), a constituent board of the Quality Council of India whose standards are accredited by ISQua; you can check a Delhi hospital's current NABH status on the NABH website.

Delhi has a long record with international accreditation: India's first hospital to receive Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, in July 2005, is in New Delhi, and JCI keeps a public list of accredited organisations.

Private hospitals and nursing homes in Delhi must hold a registration from the Delhi government under the Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act, 1953, so you can ask a hospital for its current registration certificate.