Mexico closes 10 cosmetic surgery clinics in border city


(MENAFN- AFP) Mexican authorities have ordered the closure of 10 cosmetic surgery clinics and offices in the northwest border city of Tijuana for failing to comply with health regulations.

The action, announced on Wednesday, follows the death last month of a young Australian woman after undergoing a liposuction procedure in Mexicali, another city on the US border.

Three operating rooms and an intensive care center in Mexicali were closed March 30 after her death.

The cheaper and sometimes unregistered medical practices along the border are often geared to visiting Americans and other foreigners. Tijuana lies just south of San Diego, California.

The Federal Commission for the Protection Against Health Risks, known as Cofepris by its Spanish acronym, said the latest clinics ordered to close were unable to show they were legally in business.

Inspectors also found they were using expired and unregistered products.

Two other clinics were fined but not closed.

In the case of the Australian woman, 28-year-old Eva Nicole Sarmonikas, investigators also found expired medicines and other products in the clinic where she underwent liposuction.

The doctor who operated on her is under investigation for suspected medical negligence by the Baja California state prosecutor's office.

A crackdown under President Enrique Pena Nieto has led to the closing of 90 clinics and offices that specialize in cosmetic medicine since he took office in 2012.

Eight cosmetic medicine practices were closed in mid-March in the Caribbean beach resorts of Cancun and Playa del Carmen in eastern Mexico.


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