Cancer treatment in India for Gambian patients

Why cancer cases leave, and what that means for planning

Radiotherapy is not available in The Gambia, and the treatments around it are thin, so if radiation is part of the advised plan the journey is coming — the question is how to prepare for it well, not whether to wish it away. Preparation means the opposite of urgency: the pathology report naming the tumour's type and grade, the imaging studies with their images on disc or by transfer, the treatment history with drugs, doses and dates, and current blood counts are assembled into one organized file, because records are often brief or handwritten and part of our work is making a thin file usable. Where something decisive is missing, the review says what to obtain rather than reasoning around the hole. Reviewed first, the file lets an oncologist paid by you say which parts of the advised plan genuinely require travel, whether splitting treatment is realistic — surgery abroad, some care at home, or the reverse — and what the honest aim of each component is, which is exactly what a family carrying the journey together needs to agree on before anyone flies.

The independent review, before the collection starts

A $50 video consultation or a $150 written opinion asks an oncologist who is paid by you, with no bed to fill and no cycle to sell, to examine the plan: is this regimen right for this type and stage, is the sequence defensible, what does each part aim to achieve, and what would the realistic alternatives ask instead. From The Gambia, where flights are long and costly and the funding is usually collective, this step earns its keep more visibly than almost anywhere: sometimes the review confirms the journey is justified and gives the family a written explanation to show everyone contributing, and sometimes it says the advised treatment can be delivered closer to home, or that travel will not change what matters. Both fees are credited in full if you go on to travel with us. What the review is not: a formality before booking, a substitute for your own doctors, or a source of comfort dressed up as analysis — where the evidence is thin or the examination is needed first, the letter says so.

Open-ended costs, funded in phases, visible to everyone carrying them

Cancer has no fixed price because it is priced in moving parts: each chemotherapy cycle, each radiotherapy fraction, the operation, the scans, the discharge medicines — and a single-line package hides all of it, which is precisely what a collective funding effort cannot afford. Every quote we obtain is itemized by the hospital with each component on its own line, priced in USD and locked in writing before you fly, so a sponsor in the UK and a pooling family at home can both read what each phase costs and commit stage by stage. When the plan changes mid-treatment — an extra cycle, a different drug — the change arrives as a new line with its reason attached, visible to the sponsor in London and the family in Serekunda alike, not as an unexplained larger total. The sponsor abroad usually pays the hospital directly in sterling or euros, at rates locked in writing, so the money rarely needs dalasi conversion and never passes through us; our fee is published separately and never folded into a hospital bill. We have not verified any government scheme that funds private cancer care abroad for Gambian patients, and we will not invent one.

The journey through Istanbul, the attendants, and the return home

There is no direct flight from Banjul to India, but the routing is kinder than the distance suggests: Turkish Airlines links Banjul with Istanbul year-round, and Istanbul connects onward to India's main medical cities in one further hop, with Casablanca an established alternative — a full day or more door to door, which is why the whole chain is planned around a confirmed admission date. Gambian travellers can generally apply online for India's e-Medical visa, and companions can apply alongside for linked e-Medical Attendant visas, usually up to two; check the current terms on the official Indian visa portal when applying, and we will coordinate the hospital invitation letter. Indian border rules require a yellow-fever vaccination certificate from travellers arriving from The Gambia, so confirm yours is in date. For oncology the attendant matters more than most specialties, because treatment can span weeks and someone usually stays the whole stretch — Tripcuro, our travel arm, plans their flights and the accommodation near the hospital alongside yours. Before you fly home you receive the complete treatment record and a written follow-up plan your clinic in The Gambia can pick up, and the discharge bill is audited against the locked quote before the final payment.

What to prepare

• The histopathology or biopsy report naming the tumour type and grade, wherever it exists, plus imaging studies with their images on disc or by file transfer
• Everything already given: operations, each chemotherapy drug with its dose, and any radiotherapy course, dated as precisely as your records allow
• The referral or summary letter from your treating doctor in The Gambia, even if handwritten, plus any older hospital notes you can gather
• Recent blood counts and kidney function results, which decide what doses and schedules can safely be planned
• A funding map naming every contributor — the relative in the UK or Europe, the compound, the mosque or church group — and how each payment reaches the hospital directly
• A yellow-fever vaccination certificate, which Indian immigration requires from travellers arriving via The Gambia
• The questions your family and your sponsor want settled before the collection starts, written down and agreed together