Dr. Ismael Cabrera Garcia, a surgeon with Mexico Bariatric Center, has earned board certification in bariatric and metabolic surgery. As a result, he is now one of five surgeons in Tijuana, Mexico, who hold this credential. The news was released from El Dorado Hills, California, on December 5, 2017.
To qualify, Dr. Cabrera had to meet strict requirements. The Mexican College of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgeons (CMCOEM) reviewed and verified his credentials against its standards. He works in Tijuana, though his patients travel from Europe, Canada and the United States.
Ron Elli, Ph.D., said the certification plays a central role in caring for bariatric patients. Its single purpose is to improve patient health and welfare. That is why the center says a board-certified surgeon gives the best care.
Over 4,000 operations
Dr. Cabrera says he will keep following the standards set by the college. Since 2009, he has performed more than 4,000 bariatric operations. These include vertical sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and gastric mini-bypass. He also handles complex revision surgeries when earlier weight loss operations have failed.
His complication rate is close to zero, while his patient outcomes are strong. Colleagues trust him too. In December 2016, Dr. Louisiana Valenzuela, the leading bariatric surgeon at MBC, chose him for her own gastric sleeve surgery. For safety reasons, he does no more than three surgeries a day on average.
One former patient, Kevin Ayala, has since become a bodybuilder. Ayala was 24 when he had surgery. At that time he weighed 300.7 pounds, with a BMI of 45.7, which counts as extremely obese. After following diet and exercise guidelines, he was down to 162 pounds by age 26. His BMI of 23.2 then fell in the normal range. Later he even stepped on stage at a bodybuilding competition to show his results. Ayala said Dr. Cabrera and his staff kept him well informed and acted with great professionalism. If he had to do it again, he said, he would pick the same surgeon.
The certifying bodies
The Consejo Mexicano de Cirugía General (CMCG) is the only academic body in Mexico that certifies doctors in general surgery. Its process is recognized at home and abroad. CMCOEM is an independent nonprofit. Together with the Mexican Board of Surgery, it examines and certifies general surgeons who meet the legal and academic bar in bariatric surgery. It is the Mexican counterpart of MBSAQIP, a joint program of the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
Obesity is a major public health problem in the U.S. and worldwide. Bariatric surgery can help normalize blood sugar, blood pressure and blood lipids. It can also resolve type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. Because of this, Mexico Bariatric Center sells all-inclusive packages to uninsured or underinsured Americans. It also serves Canadians who do not want to wait.
Elli, the center’s president and CEO, has worked in medical tourism for more than 10 years. Since MBC screens its surgeons carefully, it has kept its complication rate below 0.5%. Its surgical teams have more than 20 years of experience and over 10,000 operations between them. The center also has a nutritionist, a surgeon liaison and an aftercare program. That program includes a private online support group with a few thousand members. MBC is a U.S. corporation and a member of the BBB and MTA.
