Your First 48 Hours in Colombia Before Surgery: What to Confirm on the Ground

For weeks the booking has existed as emails, a quote, a payment receipt and a WhatsApp thread. Then you clear immigration, step out into the arrivals hall, and the booking becomes a physical sequence: a driver, a key, a front desk, a doctor's waiting room. The first 48 hours are when you find out whether the paper version and the real version match.

This guide assumes you have at least a day, ideally two, between arrival and surgery. If your provider wanted you to arrive the night before, or worse, the same morning, the first lesson is already clear: next time, build in arrival time. It's the cheapest insurance in the whole trip.

Before You Leave the Airport

Do three small things before you get into any vehicle:

1. Send an "I've landed" message to your coordinator and to whoever is your emergency contact at home. Include the time and your next destination.
2. Confirm your transport. If a driver was booked, check that the name or sign matches what the clinic or facilitator told you. If you're taking a taxi or app ride instead, use an official option, not someone who approaches you inside the terminal.
3. Check that your phone works. If you rely on an eSIM or local SIM, make sure data is working before you leave Wi-Fi. Every confirmation in the next two days will come through your phone.

Entry formalities are outside this guide, but don't assume last year's rules still apply. Requirements around Colombia's online pre-registration form for travellers, the Check-MIG, have changed over the years; Noticias RCN reported a suspension in 2022. Check the current requirement with Migración Colombia shortly before you fly.

Day 0 Evening: Settle In and Inspect the Lodging

When you arrive at your hotel, apartment or recovery house, take a short look with recovery in mind, not as a tourist:

• Is the bed a height you can get in and out of without twisting or straining?
• Is the bathroom close, with space to move and something to hold?
• Are there stairs between the entrance, bedroom and bathroom?
• Is there a working fridge for medications or drinks, and somewhere to sit upright?
• Does the address match exactly what you gave the clinic for transport and emergencies?

If something is clearly unsuitable, say so that evening, while there's still time to change it. Moving lodging on day 0 is an inconvenience. Moving on post-op day 2 is a hardship.

Then eat something light, drink water, and go to bed early. You're not here to sightsee yet.

Day 1 Morning: The Reconfirmation Message

First thing on your first full day, send one message to your coordinator or the clinic that restates the whole plan and asks them to confirm it. For example:

A message like this does two things. It catches errors such as a wrong time, a different facility or a changed fasting rule. And it gives you a written, dated summary of the plan on the record.

Day 1: The Pre-Operative Visit

Most surgical providers see international patients in person before the procedure. Depending on the procedure, this may include an examination, measurements or markings, blood tests, an ECG or other tests, a review of your medications, and sometimes a meeting with the anesthesiologist. Treat it as the last real decision point, not a formality.

Bring

• Your passport
• Your records packet, on paper and digital, including any results you were asked to bring
• Your current medication list and the medications themselves
• Your written quote and payment receipts
• Your list of questions, including anything from the consent forms you read in advance

Confirm in person

• The surgeon examining you is the surgeon who will operate
• The procedure planned matches your quote and consent
• Any test results that might change the plan, and when you'll hear about them
• The medications to stop or continue before surgery
• Where you'll recover on the first night: in the facility or at your lodging
• The expected discharge plan and the first follow-up appointment

If the surgeon recommends something different from what you booked, don't decide on the spot under pressure. Ask for the change, the reason and the price difference in writing, and take the time you need, even if that means moving the surgery date.

Day 1 Afternoon: Money and Paperwork

Many providers ask for the remaining balance before surgery, often at or after the pre-op visit. Before you pay:

• Check that the amount matches your quote, adjusted only for changes you've agreed in writing.
• Ask which currency and exchange rate are being used if it differs from the quote.
• Get a receipt that shows what the payment covers, not just the amount.
• If paying by card, check your card works and that daily limits won't block the payment. Calling your bank from abroad on surgery eve is stressful.

Some providers also have you sign consent documents at this point. Read them, compare them with any blank copies you were sent earlier, and ask about anything that's changed. Photograph each signed page or ask for copies.

Day 1 Evening: Prepare for Surgery Day

• Lay out what you'll take to the facility: passport, a phone and charger, any garments the clinic asked you to bring, loose clothing for discharge, and your records folder.
• Write the key facts on paper: facility address, coordinator's number, your companion's number, lodging address. Phones die, and you'll be groggy afterwards.
• Follow the fasting instructions exactly as the clinic gave them. If anything is unclear, ask that evening, not at 5 a.m.
• Brief your companion, if you have one, on the schedule, who to call, and where the documents are.
• Confirm your pickup time one more time.

If You Have a Second Day Before Surgery

A second free day is a gift. Use it gently:

• Pick up anything you'll need after surgery: groceries, easy-to-eat food, water, any pharmacy items your surgeon approved.
• Walk the short route between your lodging and the nearest pharmacy so your companion knows it.
• Rest. Arriving at surgery rested and hydrated is part of preparation.
• Avoid sunburn, heavy meals, alcohol and long excursions, which can all affect surgery or recovery. Ask your surgeon what they want you to avoid.

What Should Make You Pause

Most first 48 hours go smoothly. Stop and ask questions, and don't let momentum carry you, if:

• The surgeon at the pre-op visit is not the one you booked, and no one has explained why.
• The facility for surgery has changed from the one on your quote.
• The balance demanded is higher than agreed, with no written reason.
• You're asked to sign documents you haven't been given time to read.
• Tests reveal something, and you're being rushed into surgery anyway without a clear explanation.

Any of these deserves a conversation before you continue. Remember that moving a surgery date by a day or two is far easier to recover from than going ahead with a plan you don't understand.

A Two-Day Arrival Checklist

• Landing message sent to coordinator and home contact
• Transport confirmed and phone data working
• Lodging checked for recovery suitability; address sent to clinic
• Morning reconfirmation message sent and answered
• Pre-op visit done; surgeon, procedure and plan confirmed
• Balance checked against quote; receipt received
• Consent read, compared, signed, photographed
• Surgery-day bag packed; key facts on paper
• Fasting time and pickup time confirmed

Related Reading