Medical travel
When we say no.
We decline bookings. This is the full list, and we decline these even when you insist — which people do, and we understand why. Publishing it is the point: you should be able to hold us to it, and you should be suspicious of any operator who has no such list.
- 1
You want more than one procedure in a single trip.
We book one procedure per trip. No exceptions, no combinations, no "while I’m there". Combining procedures is the strongest predictor of the catastrophic complication in this market, and no commercial argument changes that.
- 2
The treating physician has not accepted you in writing, with a confirmed date.
We do not book travel on the strength of a quotation, an enquiry or a phone call. Acceptance means a named physician, in writing, with a date.
- 3
We cannot verify the facility in REPS with the specific service licensed, or the physician in ReTHUS.
Both registries are public and free. If we cannot find the entry, we do not proceed, and we will tell you exactly what we searched for.
- 4
You will not travel with an accompanying adult.
Mandatory where the procedure involves general anaesthetic or an overnight stay. Someone in the room who is not a patient.
- 5
You will not hold insurance covering complications of elective treatment abroad and medical repatriation — and show us the policy.
Most home policies exclude both. We need to see that yours does not, before a flight is ticketed.
- 6
You will not stay for the minimum period your surgeon sets.
The surgeon sets it in writing. We do not negotiate it and neither should you.
- 7
You want a fixed, non-changeable return date on a surgical trip.
Return legs on surgical itineraries are booked in changeable fare classes only, and are not ticketed until your surgeon gives written fitness-to-fly clearance.
- 8
You are asking us to arrange something that is not authorised for that use by a health regulator where it would be delivered.
We arrange travel only for care that is authorised where it is delivered, at institutions we have verified. If a treatment falls outside that, we will not arrange travel for it, book accommodation around it, coordinate it, or refer you to anyone who offers it.
- 9
You want to combine a procedure with diving, San Andrés or Providencia, or a high-altitude excursion in the same trip.
Come back for that another time. We would genuinely like you to, and we will help you plan it as a separate holiday.
- 10
You are seeking treatment on San Andrés or Providencia.
Zero providers in that department appear on Colombia’s official accredited-IPS list, and anything serious requires an air ambulance to the mainland. We do not arrange medical travel there at all.
- 11
You are under 18, or enquiring on behalf of someone who cannot consent for themselves.
We do not take these bookings.
- 12
You will not read and confirm the acknowledgements before enquiring.
They are four sentences. They matter more than anything else on the form.
If we decline, we tell you why and we refund you.
You get the reason in writing, and anything you have paid us comes back. We may also be able to tell you what would need to change for the answer to be different — and sometimes the honest answer is that you should have this done at home.
What a booking refusal is not.
Declining a booking is a commercial and safety decision by a travel company. It is not a medical opinion, it is not a judgement about your treatment, and it should not be read as one. If a physician has accepted you and we have declined, those are two different decisions about two different things.
Still think we should take your booking?
Tell us the situation. If we are wrong about your case we would like to know, and if we are not, we will explain why rather than just refusing.
Talk to us