Do you need a prescription to buy a CPAP machine in India?
Last updated: 2026-10-28
Quick answer
Several Indian marketplaces will ship you a CPAP with no questions asked, so in practice you can buy one without a prescription. You should not. The pressure — or the pressure range for an auto machine — has to come from a sleep study, because too little does nothing for your apnea and too much causes leaks, aerophagia and broken sleep. We ask for a sleep study report or a pulmonologist's note before we set up a machine. If you do not have one, a home sleep study is ₹2,500 and gives you the number.
The practical answer
A CPAP is a regulated medical device in India, and responsible suppliers ask for a prescription or a sleep study report. Enforcement at the point of sale is weak, so marketplace listings routinely ship without one. The gap between what is allowed and what happens is wide.
Which means the restraint has to be yours. Nobody will stop you buying a machine blind. The machine will simply not do what you bought it for.
Why the number matters so much
CPAP works by holding your airway open with air pressure, measured in centimetres of water. The pressure that just barely holds your airway open is specific to you — your anatomy, your weight, your sleeping position, whether you drink in the evening. A machine set too low leaves you with the apnea you started with and a false sense that you are being treated. Set too high, it blows air into your stomach, pushes the mask off your face and wakes you up.
An auto machine such as the AirSense 10 AutoSet is more forgiving because it adjusts breath by breath inside a range, but somebody still has to set that range. A factory default is not a prescription.
What counts as a prescription
Any one of these works for us: a sleep study report that includes your AHI and a titrated pressure; a pulmonologist's or ENT surgeon's written prescription naming the device type and pressure; or a discharge summary that specifies CPAP settings. For a bilevel machine such as the Lumis 100 VPAP ST we need IPAP, EPAP and, in ST mode, the backup rate.
A report from any lab is fine — it does not have to be ours. A WhatsApp photo of the relevant pages is fine. What we cannot work from is "the doctor said I need a CPAP" with no numbers.
If you do not have a report yet
A home sleep study at ₹2,500 is done in your own bed, with a technician setting it up and collecting it, and the report reaches you on WhatsApp in 24 hours. It gives your AHI, your oxygen desaturation and the severity grading your prescription rests on. Home sleep test vs hospital sleep lab explains when the lab version is the better choice.
You do not need a doctor's referral to book — see do I need a doctor referral — and the report is written so a pulmonologist can prescribe from it directly.
What we do before a machine goes out
We read your report, check that the machine you are asking for matches it, and tell you if it does not — we have talked people out of a bilevel machine they did not need more than once. We then enter your prescribed pressure or range before delivery, so the machine arrives configured rather than at factory settings.
If your report is more than a year old, or your weight has changed substantially since, we will suggest repeating the study before you spend ₹51,000 on a machine set to last year's numbers. Renting an Auto CPAP at ₹2,999 a month is also a legitimate way to let a doctor refine the settings before you buy — see rentals.
Related: buy a CPAP machine · CPAP price guide · rent one first · buy in Kozhikode · sleep study pricing · buying from abroad
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