Before you start

Employer group medical cover, or a private policy bought yourself
Vaccinations appropriate to India — typhoid and hepatitis A as a baseline
A hospital identified near your home before you need one
An RO water filter, from day one

Step-by-step

1
Read the group policy, not the summary slide
Check the sum insured, the daily room-rent sub-limit, disease-specific sub-limits, maternity terms, waiting periods for pre-existing conditions and whether dependants are included. Cover normally ends the day your employment does.
Via employerWho: You and HRFirst month
2
Top up with a super top-up or an international policy
Indian super top-up policies are cheap and lift a thin group ceiling substantially. An international policy costs far more but travels with you and covers treatment outside India, which an Indian policy generally does not.
OnlineWho: You
3
Register at a large private hospital near home
The major private options cluster in the western city — Kiran Multi Super Speciality, Apple, Unity, Sunshine Global — alongside the New Civil Hospital and SMIMER on the public side. Do one routine consultation so you exist in their system, and check whether they are in your insurer's cashless network.
In personWho: YouWeek 1–2
4
Take mosquito precautions from June through October
Dengue, chikungunya and malaria all rise with and after the monsoon, and the aedes mosquito bites during the day, so evening repellent alone is not enough. Repellent, window screens and clearing standing water on balconies and in plant trays are all effective and all boring.
In personWho: YouJune–October
5
Filter your water and be careful in the weeks after heavy rain
An RO filter is standard in every household here and worth having from day one. After a heavy monsoon week, be more conservative than usual about street food that involves water or ice — the elevated risk period for water-borne illness is real and short.
In personWho: You
6
Understand the health-ground liquor permit if it applies to you
Gujarat issues permits on documented medical grounds to applicants over forty, assessed by an authorised medical officer, with a defined monthly quota. This is a legitimate and widely used route for long-stay residents, distinct from the short visitor permit available to foreign nationals and out-of-state visitors.
OnlineWho: You, with a certifying medical officer

Documents you’ll need

Insurance policy document and TPA cashless card
Passport and visa, required at admission
Vaccination records and a list of regular medications by generic name
Proof of Surat address

Things most newcomers don’t know

Surat's public health machinery is unusually good, and it was built out of two disasters.

The 1994 plague scare and the 2006 flood both hit this city hard, and the municipal response — drainage, solid waste, vector control, surveillance — was rebuilt afterwards to a standard that has since made Surat a national reference point for urban sanitation and a perennial top-two finisher in the Swachh Survekshan cleanliness rankings. For a resident this shows up as better mosquito control and faster outbreak response than the city's density would predict.

Source: Surat Municipal Corporation

The health-ground liquor permit is the mechanism long-stay residents actually use.

Gujarat's prohibition regime provides for permits issued on medical grounds to applicants over forty, certified by an authorised medical officer, with a monthly quota and a defined validity. Short visitor permits, available to foreign nationals and out-of-state visitors, run in days rather than years — so for someone actually living here, the health permit is the durable route. In Surat there is no GIFT City alternative down the road, which makes the permit question more pressing than it is in Ahmedabad.

Source: Gujarat Prohibition and Excise Department

Room-rent sub-limits quietly shrink Indian claims across the whole bill.

Many group policies cap the daily room rent they will meet. Take a room above the cap and the insurer proportionately reduces every other line in the bill — surgeon's fees, tests, consumables — not just the room. A policy you believed covered you can leave a large residual. This clause matters more than the headline sum insured.

Source: IRDAI — policyholder information

Foreign nationals are outside every Indian public health scheme.

PM-JAY, ESIC and CGHS are all closed to foreign nationals, so there is no residual public entitlement to fall back on. A gap between two employers is a genuine exposure rather than a paperwork inconvenience — bridge it with a personal policy before you resign, not after.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming a public safety net exists for foreign nationals — none does.
Reading the sum insured and skipping the room-rent sub-limit.
Relaxing about mosquitoes once the rain stops — dengue peaks after the monsoon, not during it.
Drinking unfiltered tap water, or eating water-based street food in the week after heavy rain.
Buying alcohol without a permit because it seemed available — it is a criminal offence, not a fine.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.