The things people write to us before they trust us.

No. We own no beds, no operating theatres and no laboratories, and we are not owned by an organisation that does. We are an independent education and clinical-opinion service. If you go on to have treatment, it happens at a hospital under that hospital's care and contract, not ours. We are also not tied to a single hospital — where more than one could safely do your operation, you are told so.

Yes, and here is exactly how. International treatment prices contain a referral margin, built in by the hospital. It is there whether or not anyone refers you — if nobody does, it simply stays with the hospital. Where you are treated at a hospital you reached through us, part of that margin comes to us. Nobody in this industry can remove it, and we would rather explain it than claim we work for nothing.

What you pay us directly, for a consultation or a risk report, is a fixed fee that does not change with what you decide afterwards. And the doctor advising you takes no part of any referral margin. See the full disclosure.

No. The specialist advising you is paid a consultation fee and takes no share of any referral margin. If you later choose them as your surgeon, they are paid their standard surgical fee, exactly as for a patient who walked into their clinic.

This matters more than it sounds. Much of the medical-travel industry obtains doctors' opinions free of charge in return for the promise of future patients. A consultation given for nothing tends to be worth about that much — rushed, half-attentive — and it quietly makes the operation the only part of the encounter worth the doctor's time. We pay for the hour so the hour is real.

No, and be careful of anyone who does before assessing your case. Hospitals set prices; we do not set, hold or guarantee them.

What we do is make sure your case is properly assessed first, so the figure you are eventually given is built on your imaging, your reports and your other conditions rather than on a category. You are then shown a range, and told which specific things about your case could move you towards the upper end of it — so you can plan, and travel with a sensible reserve.

Because a standard price assumes a standard patient, and the assessment of whether you are one usually never happens.

Two people are offered an angioplasty on the same day. One has a single blockage and needs one stent; the other needs two. One has well-controlled diabetes and can go straight to surgery; the other needs their sugars optimised first, which means more days and sometimes a delay before operating is safe at all. Someone with heart, kidney and lung disease alongside the surgical problem needs other departments involved throughout, and belongs in a different band entirely — not because anyone is inflating it, but because that is what treating them safely takes.

A blanket price hides all of this. Our job is to surface it before you commit to anything.

Not necessarily, and that is the point. The same operation is often performed to the same standard at a tertiary hospital without the marble lobby, or at a good secondary hospital in a smaller city, for materially less. What usually differs is the room, the services and the city.

What can differ clinically is the backup available at three in the morning if something goes wrong. For a straightforward case in a fit patient, a smaller hospital may be entirely sound. For a complex case in someone with several other conditions, that backup is worth paying for. It is a judgement, and it should be yours to make with the facts in front of you.

With the specialist. Our team prepares your case beforehand and is available afterwards, but the consultation itself is you and the consultant, conducted the way that doctor sees any patient in their clinic.

So that the record of your own consultation is complete and belongs to you. We use AI transcription during the session; you are told before it starts, you can decline and still have your consultation, and you can ask for it to stop at any point. The transcript is sent to you and is not shared with any hospital or facilitator without your specific permission.

Often, yes. Where the specialist can see something that should be done now — whatever you eventually decide — it is written down for you: interim treatment for symptoms, a test or scan that would make the picture clearer, or things that should be corrected before any surgery, such as blood sugars, blood pressure or anaemia.

Medicines are advised, not dispensed. Everything comes with the reasoning attached so the doctor who can see you may review it, agree or disagree, and prescribe accordingly.

The US$20 risk report is different: it summarises and risk-stratifies your case and lists useful further tests, but contains no medication advice.

If you want us to, yes — and we think you should. Many patients quietly stop going back to the doctor who first saw them because it feels awkward to have gone abroad without them, and then come home from major surgery with nobody local following them up.

With your permission and only to a doctor you name, we write to them before you travel and again afterwards, with a referral letter setting out what was done, what to watch for and what follow-up you need. If you would rather we wrote to nobody, we write to nobody.

Yes, and there is no charge for that conversation. Send us the case in your own words and we will connect you directly with the right specialist, usually within 48 hours — doctor to doctor, as colleagues have always done. See the page for referring doctors.

Only the patient's own consultation is charged, and only to the patient.

Yes, and many people do. The transcript and written plan are designed to be taken to your own doctor. If the right answer is treatment in your own country, or no treatment at all, the consultation has done its job.

You will see the disagreement. We send both opinions exactly as written, side by side. Genuine clinical disagreement is common and informative — hiding it would remove the entire point of asking twice.

No, and nor can anyone else. You will be told what usually happens and how often it does not. Treat any guarantee of outcome, from any platform, as a warning sign.

It depends on the specialty and on how complete your reports are — case preparation is a real step, not a formality. You are given a timeline before you pay. If your situation is urgent, say so in your first message.

Do not wait for us. We work on a scheduled basis over days. Chest pain, severe bleeding, a cold or discoloured limb, a sick newborn, sudden weakness or difficulty speaking — go to your nearest emergency department immediately.

Whatever you already have: scan reports and images, blood tests, biopsy or pathology reports, discharge summaries, the list of medicines you take, and any quotation or plan you have already been given. Send more rather than less; we will tell you what is missing.

English or Hindi as standard. Tell us in advance if you need another language and interpretation will be arranged. Understanding the conversation is the point of the conversation.

Yes, and for serious decisions we encourage it. People retain very little of a difficult consultation on their own — which is also why you receive the transcript.

We do not sell travel. If you decide to proceed, we can point you to partner facilitators who handle logistics — and we will tell you plainly at that point that they may pay us a fee. You are free to use anyone you like, or nobody.

Your records are used to prepare and conduct your consultation and for nothing else. They are not sent to hospitals or facilitators without your permission, and they are never sold. See the disclosure page for the detail.

No. The library and every page here are patient education, written generically. Advice about your case comes only from a consultation with a doctor who has your reports in front of them.

The library is free. The risk report, the consultation and the two-opinion panel each carry a fixed fee, shown before you pay, with what it includes and excludes. That fee is the same whatever you decide afterwards — including deciding against surgery, or having it at home. Treatment costs are separate, and are set and confirmed by the treating hospital. See services and fees.