A month in a busy Indian clinic, planned properly from the day you land

At a glance

The clinic itself, the four mentors, a typical week, the rules and what the certificate is and is not are all on the main programme page. Please read it before you apply.

What we do, and what stays yours

A month in an Indian clinic is a long way from home, and most of what goes wrong for a visiting doctor has nothing to do with medicine. This is what we do, and what stays yours.

What we send you, and when

• An invitation and acceptance letter once your place is paid for, on our letterhead, naming your mentor, your exact dates and our registration, and stating plainly that the attachment is observational and unpaid, involves no patient contact, and is not employment.
• A letter to your university or regulator, and completion of their own form if they have one. Send us that form when you apply rather than in your last week, because some of them want a supervisor's curriculum vitae and proof of the hospital's registration, and those take a few days to assemble.
• A named person who will answer a verification email, including years later when somebody checks what you did here. Everything to do with the programme goes to oratorkhizer@gmail.com, which Dr. Khizer answers himself. Reception looks after patients and cannot help with any of this.

The visa is yours, and we will not pretend otherwise

India has no observership visa. Which category fits your case is a question for the Indian mission in your country, and we do not advise on it, because a wrong answer from us costs you a flight. What we do is send the invitation letter early, keep its wording consistent, and be reachable if the consulate calls to check that we exist. Apply at least eight weeks ahead. Our longest programme is three months, which keeps you clear of the rules that apply to longer stays.

Health, insurance and the thing nobody plans for

• Bring your vaccination record, including hepatitis B, and tell us your status before you travel.
• Travel and medical insurance is a condition of the offer, and it should include repatriation. We provide no insurance and no indemnity, and that is stated again in the undertaking you sign here.
• If you have a needle-stick or any exposure, tell your mentor the same minute. The pharmacy and the laboratory are open around the clock, you will be assessed at once, and that assessment costs you nothing. Nobody is going to make you feel foolish about it.
• If you fall ill at any point while you are with us, you are seen here, by us, at no charge. Hyderabad has dengue in some seasons, and most visitors have a difficult stomach in the first week.

Arriving

• The airport is about 35 kilometres out and the drive takes an hour or more. Send us your flight details at least two days ahead and reception will arrange a cab at a fixed price, which is the one arrangement we do make, because a two in the morning arrival in a strange city is where good visits start badly.
• Accommodation: we send a shortlist of serviced apartments and hotels within walking distance, with current rates, including at least one with a staffed reception at all hours. We book nothing, and we take no commission from anybody.
• A phone: an Indian SIM for a foreign passport takes documents and time. Buy an eSIM before you fly, and if you would rather have a local number, somebody from reception will go to the shop with you.
• Money: cards work in shops and restaurants and not with auto drivers. Carry cash. The instant payment apps Indians use are largely closed to visitors.
• Food and water: bottled water only for the first weeks, vegetarian and halal food are easy to find here, and the tea in the clinic is free and constant. Tell us any allergy or dietary need in advance and it will be handled quietly.
• Clothes: your own white coat, closed shoes, and clothing that covers the shoulders and knees. Hyderabad is hot from March to June, wet in the monsoon, and pleasant from November to February.

The language, which is the real obstacle

Most consultations here run in Urdu, Hindi or Telugu. Left alone, a visiting doctor spends a month reading faces. So the arrangement is explicit: your mentor gives you the case in two lines of English as it happens, your daily thirty minutes of teaching is entirely in English, and every written thing you are given is in English. If you want to pick up the clinical phrases, the staff will teach you, and patients enjoy it more than you would expect.

What we will orient you to in your first week

• Indian brand names for the drugs you know by their molecules, which is most of the confusion in the first days.
• Glucose in mg/dL rather than mmol/L, and what a normal report looks like here.
• What a patient actually pays, out of their own pocket, and how that changes what gets prescribed. For most visitors this is the part of the month they remember.
• Indian guidance from the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India and the Indian Council of Medical Research, set beside the American and European guidance you already know.

If you are travelling alone

The evening clinic finishes at nine and the chest clinic at ten. Reception arranges your ride home every night you are here, at our cost, and we will point you to accommodation with a staffed reception rather than the cheapest room on a booking site. Say so when you apply and it is arranged before you land rather than on your first evening.

What it costs

Nothing extra. The fee is the same as for a doctor qualified here, the letters and the forms are included, and the airport cab and your accommodation are billed to you at what they cost, by the people providing them, with nothing added by us.

Fees for doctors qualified outside India

Applying is free. You pay only after you are offered a place, and the seat is held for seven days while you decide. Every application that reaches us on or before 31 December 2026 pays half, whatever dates you come.

The fee includes the invitation letter and any form your university or regulator needs completed. Travel, visa, food, accommodation and local transport are yours. Refunds follow the same rules as everybody else's.

Questions doctors from abroad ask us

Does this count as US clinical experience, or for the UK or Gulf licensing?

No. US clinical experience by definition takes place in the United States, and this observership carries no credit with the GMC, any Gulf licensing authority or any other regulator. What it does give you is a signed letter of experience with dates and hours, a mentor's written assessment and, on a programme of a month or longer, a supervised case report submitted to a journal with you as first author.

Will my mentor write a letter of recommendation?

Your mentor writes an assessment for every observer in any case. A personal letter of recommendation is not part of what the fee buys. Whether to write one is your mentor's own decision at the end, on what they saw of you.

Which visa do I need?

India has no observership visa, and the right category is a question for the Indian mission in your country. We send an invitation and acceptance letter once your place is paid for, stating that the attachment is observational, unpaid, involves no patient contact and is not employment, and we answer if the consulate writes to check.

How far ahead should I apply?

At least eight weeks ahead, because of the invitation letter and the visa. Intakes are on the 1st of each month, with one observer per consultant and five seats in all, so months fill a long way ahead.

Is the fee different for doctors from abroad?

The fee is set in dollars: US$249 for a month, or US$125 if your application reaches us by 31 December 2026. It includes the invitation letter and completing any form your university or regulator needs. Travel, visa, food, accommodation and local transport are yours.

Ready to apply?

The application form is on the main programme page. It takes about four minutes, costs nothing, and you get a reference number on screen and by email. Put your country in the form, and if your university or regulator has a form for us, say so in the last box.

Already applied? Check your application status.