Overview
The liver can regrow. Remove part of a healthy liver and the rest grows back towards normal size within weeks to months. That is what lets a living person give part of their liver to a relative whose liver is failing.
In a living donor liver transplant (LDLT), the surgeon removes the patient's whole diseased liver and replaces it with a portion of the donor's liver. For an adult this is usually the right lobe, the larger side. For a child, a smaller section from the left side is often enough. Both pieces then grow and take up full work.
Patients who travel almost always have a living donor, because deceased donor livers are scarce everywhere. It is major surgery for two people, and every country adds its own legal approval. You can name a preferred country on the quote form, or let hospitals in several countries quote. Your MediCurage coordinator handles the travel, stay and paperwork; the transplant team decides everything medical.
Who needs it
Doctors consider a transplant when the liver is failing and other treatment has stopped helping. Common reasons include:
- Cirrhosis, heavy scarring of the liver caused by hepatitis B or C, alcohol, fatty liver disease or autoimmune disease.
- Acute liver failure, when a previously healthy liver stops working within days or weeks.
- Liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) confined to the liver and within limits the team accepts.
- Biliary atresia in children, a condition present from birth in which the bile ducts are blocked or missing.
Warning signs include jaundice (yellow eyes and skin), fluid in the abdomen, vomiting blood and episodes of confusion. Doctors often use the MELD score, a number calculated from blood tests, to judge how urgent a transplant has become.
The patient must also be fit for a long operation, so heart, lungs and kidneys are checked. Patients whose disease was caused by alcohol are usually asked to show a period without drinking, and each hospital sets its own rule.
The donor and the law
Transplant law differs by country, but the core is shared. The donor is a living adult, usually a close relative, medically fit and giving freely. A government or hospital committee checks the relationship and consent before surgery, and your embassy or home authorities usually certify family documents. Organ trade is illegal everywhere. MediCurage never finds, introduces or pays a donor.
If you are treated in India, the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and its 2014 Rules apply. For a foreign patient, the donor is expected to be a near relative (spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild) aged 18 or over. An Indian citizen may not donate to a foreign patient unless they are near relatives. A senior official of your country's embassy in India certifies the relationship on Form 21 and confirms no payment or pressure is involved. Where there is no embassy in India, your government issues the certificate.
What we confirmed on official sources in October 2026 (rules change, and the hospital confirms them for your case):
- Turkey. A 2022 regulation allows a spouse married at least two years (unless the illness was diagnosed after the marriage) and blood or in-law relatives up to the fourth degree. Other donors need an ethics commission's approval, and the Ministry of Health may require that review, or limit transplants, for health tourism patients from regions with a risk of organ trade.
- Thailand. Medical Council rules accept a blood relative or a spouse of at least three years (no waiting period with a child together). For foreign patients, your embassy or home authorities certify relationship documents, Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs checks them, and HLA or DNA tests at a Thai government institution confirm the blood relationship.
- Mexico. The law prefers donors related by blood, adoption or marriage. Foreign patients and donors need legal immigration status, apostilled or legalised relationship papers with a certified translation, and a hospital transplant committee record that no organ trade or pressure is involved.
- Malaysia. MediCurage checks the current rules for foreign patients with the hospital and authorities before any quote.
Medically, the donor needs a compatible blood group and a healthy liver large enough to share. The surgeon will turn a donor down if the risk to that person is too high, and that decision protects your family.
How it is done
Before you travel
Send us the patient's recent liver blood tests, INR (a clotting test), an ultrasound or CT scan, hepatitis results and a summary from the treating doctor. Include the donor's age, blood group and any known illness. Partner hospitals in the countries you are considering each quote for your case, and you choose. We request the hospital's visa letter, help the donor and one family member prepare their applications, and book the flights. Attendant rules differ; if you are treated in India, up to two attendants may travel (three for Bangladeshi nationals on the regular medical visa), and the donor is usually one of them.
Tests and approval
A driver or representative we book meets you in the arrivals hall with a board showing the patient's name. We send you their name and number before you fly. They drive you to your stay. For one to two weeks, both people are tested. The donor has blood tests, a CT scan to measure liver volume and map the blood vessels, an MRI of the bile ducts and sometimes a liver biopsy (a tiny sample taken with a needle) to check for fat. The patient has heart, lung and infection checks.
Next comes the committee. If you are treated in India, the Authorisation Committee interviews donor and patient in person, records the interview on video, and gives a written decision. The hospital also registers the transplant with NOTTO, India's national transplant body. Other countries use a hospital or government committee in a similar way. We arrange an interpreter if the committee allows one, and surgery is booked only after written approval.
Surgery day
Two surgical teams work at the same time in neighbouring theatres. One removes part of the donor's liver. The other removes the patient's diseased liver and connects the new portion to the blood vessels and bile duct. The patient's operation often lasts eight hours or more, followed by intensive care, sometimes on a breathing machine for the first hours.
Recovery and how long you stay
The donor usually spends 7 to 10 days in hospital, with walking from the first day or two. The patient usually stays about 2 to 3 weeks, starting in intensive care and moving to a transplant ward.
After discharge, both of you stay near the hospital. The patient has frequent blood tests and ultrasound scans while the team adjusts the immunosuppressants (medicines that stop the body rejecting the new liver). The team watches for rejection, infection and bile duct or blood vessel problems.
Plan for six to eight weeks in the country where you are treated, sometimes a little longer. Before you leave, ask for the discharge summary, a medicine schedule and a hospital contact. Once you are home, we help pass your blood results back to the transplant team.
Questions to ask your surgeon
- What part of the liver will be taken from the donor, and why that part?
- What are the main risks for the donor, and what follow up will the donor need at home?
- How soon after discharge can we fly, and what should we do if a fever starts during the flight?
- Are the immunosuppressants you prescribe sold in my country?
Ask these at the first consultation, while there is still time to plan around the answers.
Indicative cost by country
Ranges for a standard case at a private hospital. They help you plan; your chosen hospital's quote for your case is the figure to plan around.
- IndiaIndicative priceUS$25,000 to US$40,000Hospital stay14 to 21 daysTotal time in the country45 to 60 days
What the range usually covers: Living donor transplant: surgery for recipient and donor, ICU and ward stay for both, and medicines during admission. Excludes pre-transplant evaluation, long-term drugs, flights and hotel.
- TurkeyIndicative priceUS$45,000 to US$65,000Hospital stay14 to 21 daysTotal time in the country45 to 60 days
What the range usually covers: Living donor transplant: surgery for recipient and donor, ICU and ward stay for both, and medicines during admission. Excludes pre-transplant evaluation, long-term drugs, flights and hotel.
- ThailandIndicative pricePrice on requestHospital stay14 to 21 daysTotal time in the country45 to 60 days
What the range usually covers: Living donor transplant: surgery for recipient and donor, ICU and ward stay for both, and medicines during admission. Excludes pre-transplant evaluation, long-term drugs, flights and hotel.
- MalaysiaIndicative pricePrice on requestHospital stay14 to 21 daysTotal time in the country45 to 60 days
What the range usually covers: Living donor transplant: surgery for recipient and donor, ICU and ward stay for both, and medicines during admission. Excludes pre-transplant evaluation, long-term drugs, flights and hotel.
- MexicoIndicative pricePrice on requestHospital stay14 to 21 daysTotal time in the country45 to 60 days
What the range usually covers: Living donor transplant: surgery for recipient and donor, ICU and ward stay for both, and medicines during admission. Excludes pre-transplant evaluation, long-term drugs, flights and hotel.
Indicative range. Your final cost depends on your reports and the hospital you choose.
Questions families ask
Who can be a liver donor for a patient from abroad?
That is set by the law of the country where you are treated, and it is usually a close relative. If you are treated in India, the donor for a foreign patient is expected to be a near relative over 18: a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild. Turkey, Thailand and Mexico have their own lists and document rules, explained on this page. The donor also needs a compatible blood group and a healthy liver of the right size, and the hospital confirms whether your donor can be considered before you travel.
Does the donor's liver grow back?
Yes. The part of the liver left in the donor regrows over the following weeks and months, and so does the part given to the patient. The donor will still need follow up blood tests and scans. Surgeons usually advise donors to avoid heavy lifting for some weeks, and the donor's own surgeon gives the exact limits.
How long does the donor need to stay after surgery?
Most donors stay in hospital about 7 to 10 days. After discharge they remain near the hospital for checks, and many are cleared to fly about three to four weeks after surgery. The surgeon decides the exact date.
Can I wait for a liver from a deceased donor instead?
Deceased donor livers are scarce in every country, so the wait for a foreign patient is impossible to predict. If you are treated in India, for example, a hospital can register a foreign national, but these organs are offered to patients in India first. That is why most international patients plan a living donor transplant.
Will the patient need medicines for life?
Yes. After a liver transplant the patient takes immunosuppressant medicines every day to stop the body rejecting the new liver. Doses are usually highest in the first months and are lowered over time by the transplant team.
This page is general information. Your treating doctor decides your treatment plan.
