The Middle East conflict and Indian healthcare

The biggest impact of the Middle East conflict on Indian healthcare is indirect: it makes energy and logistics more expensive and less reliable, rippling through patients, hospitals, supply chains, and medical tourism.

Energy shock and fuel dependence

India meets about 88% of its crude oil needs and about 60% of its LPG consumption through imports. The Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway threatened by war, normally handles 85–90% of India's LPG imports. To cushion the shock, the government directed refineries to increase LPG production, extended the refill booking cycle from 21 to 25 days, created a committee to allocate LPG to commercial users, signed contracts to import 2.2 million tonnes of LPG from the US Gulf Coast, and began diverting domestic natural gas to priority sectors. Even so, domestic LPG cylinders cost ₹60 more, commercial cylinders rose ₹115, and petrol and diesel climbed, feeding into hospital budgets, household cooking costs, and transport expenses.

Patients and access to care

According to NITI Aayog, 6.26% of out-of-pocket health expenditure goes to transportation and emergency rescue. When fuel gets expensive, families postpone consultations or skip antenatal check-ups. Chronic-care patients needing dialysis, chemotherapy or TB treatment are hardest hit, rural dialysis patients often exhaust savings on transport before treatment even begins. Ambulances and referral vehicles run on diesel; shortages or price hikes force operators to ration services or raise fees, delaying emergency response in rural areas especially.

Hospital operations

Many hospitals depend on diesel generators for backup power; rising diesel costs increase operating expenses and threaten continuous equipment operation. Oxygen from PSA plants becomes much more expensive when powered by diesel rather than electricity. Hospitals use LPG for kitchens, laundry and sterilisation, and rationed commercial supplies stretch them thin. Meanwhile petrochemical shortages are inflating prices of plastics like polypropylene, key for syringes, IV bags and catheters, polypropylene prices surged 25–35% in just 10–12 days, and gas rationing cut supply to small device manufacturers to 40% of contracted quantity.

Medical tourism and international patients

West Asia is both a major source of patients and an aviation hub. Flight cancellations and rerouting raised airfares 15–25% and increased travel time. Major hospitals expect 8–10% revenue drops from foreign patients as those from Oman, Iraq and Yemen cancel or defer surgeries. The Middle East accounts for 20–25% of medical-value-travel revenues for chains like Apollo, Fortis and Manipal, and contributed 18% of India's foreign medical arrivals in 2024. Hospitals are diversifying toward Southeast Asia and Africa and relying more on tele-consultations.

Household affordability and public health

A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder now exceeds ₹900, while many poor households still rely on biomass. Price hikes may push families back to firewood and dung, worsening indoor air pollution and respiratory illness. Higher fuel costs raise food prices, leading some families to cut spending on nutrition and medicines. A weaker rupee and rising import bills strain government health budgets, and states may delay payments to hospitals or reduce procurement of high-cost drugs.

What to watch

India is ramping imports from Russia, West Africa and the US Gulf to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, but further escalation could disrupt shipping routes and insurance costs. Track announcements on fuel subsidies and rationing, they determine how much pain is passed to hospitals and consumers. And if fighting calms, expect a sharp rebound in medical tourists, similar to the post-COVID surge.