A good coordinator is genuinely useful. These are the red flags worth checking before you hand anything over.
1. No written fee structure
Anyone handling your treatment should be able to state, in writing, what they charge and who pays whom. Refusing to do so points to a commission model — the exact thing patients in the region say they fear.
2. No registered business address
A registered address, a business name and a verifiable contact are basic checks. Reddit and community threads are full of agencies that surface only as a casual offer in a comment thread and vanish.
3. Guaranteed visa approval
Visa decisions are made by the authorities. A hospital invitation letter supports an application, but nobody can promise approval. Anyone who does is selling certainty that does not exist.
4. The hospital estimate never comes directly from a hospital
Ask for the hospital's own written estimate. If the coordinator cannot produce one, or if the number keeps being described as a package only they can quote, treat it as a warning sign. Hospital charges and coordination fees should be two separate, written numbers.
5. Pressure to book flights before the visa
Urgency sells. Flights come after the visa, and after a confirmed written estimate. An agent who presses you to lock in payments early is applying pressure, not help.
6. Outcome promises
No one can guarantee a medical outcome. Claims about success rates and outcomes, made casually, tell you nothing useful and may tell you what you want to hear. Ask instead for the hospital's own documentation and procedures.
See our own commitments spelled out in how we coordinate and what it costs.
Vet the helper as carefully as you vet the hospital. Medical decisions, including whether surgery is appropriate for you, are made by qualified clinicians after reviewing your case.