Bariatric Tourism

Surgery for diabetes:

It is important to bear in mind that you are not planning a simple vacation. You are seeking the best medical alternative in bariatric surgery in a foreign country that you are probably not familiar with. Therefore, it is important that you consider all the factors that will play a significant role in the total value of your trip.

Including our training in the United States and our practice in Guatemala, we have taken care of hundreds of patients undergoing bariatric surgery.  Our experience includes preoperative evaluation and preparation of clinically significant obese patients for bariatric surgery, the actual surgery, and postoperative care.  We are proudly one of the most experienced bariatric surgery centers in Latin America.

Medical Facilities:

The quality of the medical facilities is a significant factor to consider. You need to make sure you undergo your bariatric surgery at a state-of-the-art hospital with the highest quality standards available. In Guatemala, we have a recently built, fully equipped, bariatric surgery-oriented hospital with the latest in technology available. It was built in order to meet the highest contemporary international medical standards.

In order to guarantee quality, we use only FDA approved bariatric surgery equipment shipped from the United States. We use the LapBand system for our gastric banding patients to ensure that physicians in the United States are familiarized with this type of band and that you can continue your follow-up with them without any problem.

For our gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy patients we use exactly the same FDA approved bariatric surgery staplers used in hospitals all over the United States.

Location

The proximity of the country to the US should also be part or your algorithm when considering your medical tourism destination. Remember that it is important to avoid long trips with multiple flight connections when recovering from a major surgery, such as bariatric surgery. Additionally, it is more expensive.

Guatemala is located just south from Mexico. Flights arrive within 3 hours from several major cities in the United States (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Dallas and Atlanta) and from many other locations around the country.

Remember that it is important to avoid long trips with multiple flight connections when recovering from a major surgery, such as bariatric surgery. Daily flights arrive to Guatemala within 3 hours from several major cities in the United States.

Weather:

Guatemala’s nickname is the “country of the eternal spring”. We only have to seasons, when it rains and when it doesn’t rain. Rainy season is between May and September. The weather all year long in Guatemala is between 60° F (15° C) and 80° F (25° C). Nevertheless, the hospital and hotel rooms are equipped with air conditioning for your convenience.

Costs: 

Our prices are at least 50% less expensive than the cheapest available bariatric surgery programs in the United States. Although our hospital is affiliated to international insurance companies, bariatric surgery is not covered by insurance companies in Guatemala.

The $6,000 Rule: There is a simple rule you should follow to determine if you would actually save money by having your surgery abroad. It is called "The $6,000 Rule." It implies that you may not save if your operation costs $6,000 or less in the US. Even if the surgery costs much less abroad, when you add the airfare, hotel accommodations, transportation, and other expenses of traveling to another country, you may only break-even. That being said, many people still choose to travel abroad to achieve complete privacy and anonymity, peaceful recuperation, and the avoidance of daily hometown distractions

Our prices are at least 50% less expensive than the cheapest available bariatric surgery programs in the United States.

Surgery Schedule: You can pick your own bariatric surgery date. You can even have your surgery scheduled right away. You don’t need to wait for months to have your bariatric surgery. You will have your complete work-up done by the multidisciplinary bariatric surgery team on one single day, the day following your arrival to Guatemala. If everything is OK, you can have your operation the very next day.