Built around one of the world's leading transplant surgeons
Chennai, Tamil NaduAssociate hospital
450
Beds, including 130 in critical care
9
Operating theatres
130+
Consultants
50+
Clinical disciplines
About the hospital
Why we refer here
A 450-bed quaternary hospital in Chromepet, Chennai, opened in 2018 and built around Prof. Mohamed Rela's liver transplant programme. Almost a third of its beds are critical care, which is what a transplant or a liver failure case needs and what most hospitals do not have.
Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre was established in 2018 under Prof. Mohamed Rela, who entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000 for a liver transplant performed on a five-day-old baby in December 1997, and who pioneered the split liver transplant technique that divides one donated liver between two recipients. The hospital is NABH accredited — certificate H-2021-0778, held since March 2021 — with a separately accredited blood bank and an NABL-accredited laboratory. It runs 450 beds on a 36-acre campus, 130 of them critical care, with nine operating theatres, 130 or more consultants and over fifty clinical disciplines. What makes it the right referral is narrower than that: it is a liver, kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and bone marrow transplant centre with its own dedicated liver intensive care unit, and its transplant unit has twice been recognised by the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu — Best Liver Transplant Unit for 2018–19, and Best Performing Live Liver Transplant Team for 2019–20. We publish those rather than a transplant count, because the three volume figures the hospital states cover three different things and none of them is the number for this hospital since it opened.
- 450 beds, 130 of them critical care, on a single 36-acre Chennai campus
- NABH accredited hospital and blood bank; NABL accredited laboratory
- Liver, kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and bone marrow transplant programmes
- International patients desk offering remote consultation before you travel
Photography to follow from the hospital
Accreditation
- NABH accredited hospital — certificate H-2021-0778, valid to March 2028
- NABH accredited blood bank — certificate BB-2020-0116
- NABL accredited medical laboratory — MC-3366
Centres of excellence
What Rela Hospital Chennai treats
Comprehensive care across a wide range of specialities, delivered by expert teams under one roof.
Liver disease & transplantation
The hospital's founding programme — adult and paediatric liver transplantation with its own dedicated liver intensive care unit.
Hepatology & gastro sciences
Medical and surgical gastroenterology, hepatology and hepatopancreatobiliary surgery.
Renal sciences
Nephrology, dialysis and kidney transplantation for adults and children.
Cardiac sciences
Cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, including heart and lung transplantation.
Neurosciences
Neurology, neurosurgery, neuro-spine and spine surgery.
Cancer centre
Medical, surgical and radiation oncology with haemato-oncology and bone marrow transplant.
Advanced paediatrics
Paediatric hepatology, cardiology, nephrology, neurology and transplantation, with a dedicated paediatric transplant ICU.
Intensive care & trauma
130 critical-care beds, a trauma centre and speciality intensive care units including one for transplantation.
Robotic surgery
Robot-assisted surgery across gynaecology, urology and general surgical work.
Women's health & neonatology
Obstetrics, gynaecology, fetal medicine, reproductive medicine and neonatology in a dedicated block.
Orthopaedics
Joint replacement, arthroscopy, sports medicine and orthopaedic oncology.
Intestine rehabilitation
A dedicated unit for intestinal failure, including paediatric small bowel transplantation.
International patients
What the international patients desk actually does
Rela's desk is built around getting the consultation done before anyone buys a ticket, and around the family rather than only the patient. Two things set it apart from the rest of this list: it is the one hospital that says it makes the hotel bookings itself rather than recommending somewhere, and it is the one that publishes its international patients page in Bengali. It is also silent on two things the others cover, and we would rather you saw that here than found out at the airport.
Visa and invitation letters
The desk takes the visa paperwork on directly and starts it as soon as the case is with them.
Airport transfer and arrival
The hospital publishes nothing here
Rela publishes nothing about meeting patients at the airport, and we have not assumed it because every other hospital here does. So this one is ours: our coordinator is at Chennai airport when you land, and takes you to the hotel or the hospital.
Language and interpreters
Rela lists language translators among its support services, without saying which languages or how they are booked. Separately it publishes a Bengali edition of this page — the only hospital here that does. It reads as a translated edition rather than one written in Bangla, so our coordinators still do the talking, in person, for the whole stay.
EnglishBengali (translated pages)Estimates, currency and payment
A cost estimate before commitment, so a family can plan the money as well as the trip.
Insurance
The hospital publishes nothing here
Nothing published. Plan on paying Rela directly at Rela's own rates. If you hold a policy you believe should apply, tell us before the estimate is finalised and we will put it to the desk in writing.
Accommodation
Rela says it takes care of the hotel bookings the patient or the family need, to the family's own budget. That is a stronger commitment than any other hospital on this page makes — the others recommend or suggest.
The consultation comes before the ticket
A remote consultation with the treating doctor before travel, and the same doctor stays reachable after the patient has flown home.
Source: Rela's international patients page — read it on the hospital's own site
Also in the network
Manipal Hospitals
Multi-speciality tertiary care across a national network, with dedicated international patient desks.
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KIMS Hospitals Bengaluru
A multi-super-speciality campus built around robotic surgery, transplant and advanced critical care.
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Fortis Healthcare
Thirty-six facilities across twelve states, four of them JCI accredited, with a network-wide international patient desk.
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Apollo Hospitals Greams Road
The Apollo group's flagship in Chennai — over 60 departments on one campus, JCI accredited without a break since 2006.
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Apollo Proton Cancer Centre
Apollo's dedicated cancer hospital in Tharamani, Chennai — the first and only proton therapy centre in South Asia and the Middle East, with treatment support via Bangla Health Connect.
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Dr Agarwals Eye Hospital
India's largest eye care network — cataract, cornea, retina and glaucoma surgery across 236 facilities, with a dedicated international patients team.
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HCG Cancer Centres
India's largest cancer network — oncology and haematology only, across 25 hospitals, with bone marrow transplant and the group's own Bengali interpreters.
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Thinking about Rela Hospital Chennai?
Send us the diagnosis and the reports. We will come back with a specialist opinion and a written estimate from the hospital — and if another hospital suits the case better, we will tell you that instead.
We respond to every enquiry within 24 hours.