Aster Medicity in Kochi is the Aster DM Healthcare flagship campus in Kerala, and this page is about the practical question of treatment in Kerala: why patients travel to Kochi rather than to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai or Bengaluru, and what a patient from Bengaluru should arrange before coming.
Why Kerala rather than a metro
Three reasons, and none of them are about marketing. First, cost. Tertiary treatment in Kochi is generally cheaper than in Delhi or Mumbai for equivalent procedures, and accommodation and living costs for a companion are markedly lower, which matters when treatment runs for weeks.
Second, the state itself. Kerala has the strongest public health indicators in India, high literacy, widespread English, and a compact city in Kochi where you are not spending two hours a day in traffic. For a patient recovering from surgery, none of this is trivial.
Third, the climate. The Kerala coast is humid but avoids the extremes of the north Indian summer and winter, which makes an eight week radiation course or a long post-transplant recovery more bearable.
The counterweight is honest: for some very rare procedures, volume sits in the big metros. Ask directly how many of your operation this campus performs each year, and be prepared to travel further if the answer is a handful.
Treatments offered at Aster Medicity
- Hepatology & Liver Transplant - cirrhosis, liver failure, liver cancer and liver transplant
- Nephrology & Kidney Transplant - dialysis, chronic kidney disease and kidney transplant
- Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery - angioplasty, bypass grafting, valve surgery, electrophysiology and advanced heart failure care
- Neurosurgery - brain tumours, epilepsy surgery, spinal surgery and stroke intervention
- Oncology & Cancer Medicine - medical oncology, radiation therapy and surgical oncology
- Hematology & Blood Disorders - leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and marrow failure
- Stem Cell Therapy - bone marrow transplant for blood cancers and marrow disorders
- Gastroenterology - therapeutic endoscopy, inflammatory bowel disease and pancreatic disease
- Urology & Kidney Transplant - endourology, stone disease and urological cancer
- Orthopaedics Joints & Spine Surgery - joint replacement, arthroscopy, sports injury and spinal surgery
- General Surgery - laparoscopic and hepatobiliary surgery
- Bariatric & Weight Loss Surgery - sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass
- Gynecology - obstetrics, high-risk pregnancy and gynaecological surgery
- IVF & Infertility - IVF, ICSI and fertility preservation
- Pediatric Surgery - neonatal, paediatric cardiac and general paediatric surgery
- Endocrinology & Diabetes - diabetes, thyroid and metabolic disorders
- ENT Surgery - ear surgery, sinus surgery and cochlear implants
- Ophthalmology - cataract, cornea and retinal surgery
- Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery - reconstruction and aesthetic surgery
- Vascular Surgery - aneurysm repair, dialysis access and limb salvage
- Rheumatology - inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune disease
- Dermatology - medical and procedural dermatology
- Dental Treatment - restorative and implant dentistry, dental clearance before surgery
- Infectious Disease - tropical infection, tuberculosis and sepsis
What to arrange before you travel
Records first: discharge summaries, imaging on disc, pathology slides where cancer is involved, serial blood tests and a full medicine list. Then a written plan and an itemised estimate, then the visa invitation letter if you need one, then flights, then accommodation with room to extend.
Ask the estimate to state the room category, the assumed intensive care days and the daily rate beyond them, whether implants and pre-admission investigations are included, and what a complication would add. For cancer, ask the cost per cycle and the number of cycles. For transplant, ask for the donor work-up separately.
Cochin International Airport is well connected to the Gulf and to Indian metros, and is about forty minutes from the hospital. Accommodation near the campus and in central Kochi covers a wide range of budgets, and serviced apartments are the sensible choice beyond a week.