ABC Medical Centre puts international standards of healthcare at a local level

For a medical centre to be considered excellent, it must actively participate in the teaching of different modalities, either by training new healthcare professionals or through educational and induction courses and programmes. It must do that not only for its physicians, but also for all its employees. The ABC Medical Centre has inaugurated a teaching hospital in alliance with one of Mexico’s most prestigious schools and is recognising prominent individuals who have contributed their knowledge to medical science.

It is also important to maintain a commitment to quality, innovation and medical practices. This can be seen in the construction of more modern facilities, the use of high specialty medicine, and national and international affiliations for community healthcare.

The ABC Medical Centre, through its research and teaching department, promotes constant innovation, excellence in processes and continuous growth by actively participating in the training of healthcare professionals in Mexico. This is why the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and the ABC Medical Centre have joined forces to collaborate on the creation of the Tec-ABC Teaching Hospital, which will complement the medical physician programme currently offered by Monterrey Institute of Technology at its Mexico City Campus.

The purpose of this alliance is to train medical practice professionals committed to the social, cultural and economic development of Mexican society with a competitive, creative and innovative profile. It will combine the prestige of both institutions to offer cutting-edge study programmes (as well as clinical training programmes) and train professionals committed to health services.

The ABC has over 50 years of academic experience through its agreement with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, training healthcare professionals through its pre-grad rotating internship, 15 medical specialties and 12 highly specialised postgraduate courses at its Observatorio and Santa Fe Campuses.

For its part, the Monterrey Institute of Technology has managed a School of Medicine and Health Sciences for 35 years. The school is renowned for its great prestige and is considered one of the best schools for studying medicine in Latin America. Its graduates are distinguished by achieving the highest performance levels in national healthcare professional exams and for obtaining various awards for excellence.

Mexico has the greatest number of overweight people in all age groups

The synergy between both institutions leads, on the one hand, to visits from highly experienced specialised physicians who come to teach at this teaching hospital, and, on the other, a solid teaching programme that uses high quality clinical areas with state-of-the-art technology for medical training.

The main benefits will be for students, who will be able to observe medical practice at the ABC Medical Centre, receive classes from excellent physicians, be guided in the use of the latest high-end medical technology, use the best tools provided for their training, and benefit from the best medicine programmes provided by an institution as prestigious as the Monterrey Institute of Technology. As part of this programme, students will spend the first four semesters at the Mexico City Campus of the Monterrey Institute of Technology. From the fifth semester, they will transfer to the ABC Medical Centre Teaching Hospital to continue their studies. Finally, students will carry out their rotating internship at different hospitals in Mexico or abroad.

The innovative infrastructure at the ABC Medical Centre Santa Fe Campus consists of eight classrooms, one simulation center, laboratories, a newspaper library, advisory rooms and individual study cubicles, as well as open areas, offices and parking. It also houses six classrooms for developing the didactic technique of ‘Problem-Based Learning’, a creativity room and two laboratories: one for pathology and the other for developing surgical skills and clinical practice. It also has a digital library, a Gesell chamber, an area for physical examinations, a consulting room and a hospital bed.

The Tec-ABC Teaching Hospital brings to fruition one of the proposals for the strategic expansion of the ABC Medical Centre and its goal of helping to solve medium term health problems in Mexican society. At the same time, it fulfills one of the main objectives of its vision: teaching.

Leaders and legends
Every year, the ABC Neurological Centre stages an important academic conference called ‘Legends of Neuroscience’. This conference has been used each year to celebrate important and distinguished members of the neuroscience community who are in some way linked to our institution.

This year we will be honouring Dr Andrés Miguel Kanner, a legend of neuroscience with particular significance for the activities of the ABC Neurological Centre. Dr Kanner was born in Mexico – in fact at the ABC Medical Centre – has worked in the US and currently has links to the University of Miami. He has distinguished himself over the course of several decades through his studies of behaviour and the nervous system, and, in particular, for the way behaviour changes in persons with epilepsy. He is an internationally renowned doctor who has published dozens of papers, and enjoys the respect and admiration of the international scientific community.

Following the proposal for expansion included in the ABC Medical Centre’s 2020 Strategic Plan, it is necessary to evolve and adapt in order to continue as leaders in private medicine in Mexico. One of the projects for the renovation and expansion of our facilities includes the replacement of certain areas at the Observatorio Campus.

To achieve cutting-edge medical advances and safety in patient care by increasing our adherence to the highest international standards in quality and safety, a new tower will be built that will have 11 floors equipped with the latest high-end technology. This new building will include: eight operating theatres equipped with the latest high-end technology and areas for new surgical trends; 10 intensive care rooms; 10 intermediate care rooms; 10 cardiovascular intensive care rooms; 10 intermediate cardiovascular care rooms; 11 paediatrics rooms; eight haematopoietic cell transplant rooms; one specialised mixtures centre; intraoperative pathology rooms; an inhalotherapy unit; and support services. Construction is scheduled to begin this year and is estimated to take 24 to 27 months.

In addition to this project, institutional expansion plans include the opening of the ABC Sur (South) and Norte (North) Specialties Centres to offer certain services to patients living in these areas of Mexico City, using the same quality and safety standards as our two main campuses. The services offered are nutrition and obesity, physical therapy and breast cancer diagnosis. The ABC Norte Specialties Centre will also offer a clinical analysis service.

At the ABC Medical Centre we are building the future today, with planning, and in accordance with our organisational culture and values.

Transformation of healthcare
True to the vision of the ABC Medical Centre as a leading organisation in the transformation of healthcare, for 11 years we have offered the option of haematopoietic cell transplants for those suffering from certain types of cancer, congenital immunodeficiencies and hematologic conditions. The unit is staffed by specialised professionals whose technical and material resources include a physical area suitable for more complex procedures. In this way, we can continue to offer an excellent service. We improve quality of life through a multidisciplinary team of experts in transplants and cutting-edge technology.

The ABC Medical Centre is also deeply concerned about obesity in Mexico (the country has the greatest number of overweight people in all age groups). Being overweight and obese not only affects the physical image of a person, but also impacts their health and finances. The centre offers multidisciplinary medical or surgical programmes based on individual needs. These programmes feature specialists in the areas of internal medicine, psychology, nutrition and sports medicine at the ABC Nutrition and Obesity Centre.

ABC’s affiliations
Through its affiliations, the ABC Medical Centre has joined networks that offer a model and benchmark for local and international hospitals. This enables us to share knowledge and resources for community healthcare by offering better-trained physicians, nurses and technicians with a multidisciplinary vision that provides patients with our characteristic safety, humane treatment and warmth. Our affiliations include Methodist International, the Texas Children’s Hospital, Seguro Popular (Public Health Insurance), and the Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation.

In 2007, the ABC Medical Centre signed an affiliation agreement with Methodist International of Houston, Texas for the purpose of bringing the services currently provided into line with international standards. The ABC Medical Centre and Methodist International collaborate in areas that focus on patient safety, research, state-of-the-art technology, quality, specialisation and teaching, so that medical and hospital practices exceed patient expectations.

Methodist International is the international branch of the Methodist Hospital in Houston and assists patients, physicians and healthcare organisations around the world. It has a history of over 90 years of major success. The US News & World Report’s 2006 listing of America’s Best Hospitals ranked it among the top hospitals in the US for six major specialties. Among the highlights of its history, the first multi-organ transplant in the world was performed there in 1960.

Kardias AC was founded in 2000 by a group of people concerned with improving the quality of comprehensive medical care for children suffering from congenital heart disease and to meet the needs of the National Paediatrics Institute’s Paediatric Cardiovascular Surgery Programme. It is extremely important that such programmes are equipped with cutting-edge infrastructure so they can offer good service.

Kardias and the ABC Medical Centre have joined the federal government programme ‘Para los Niños de Corazón’ (‘For Children with a Heart’) by creating a High Specialty Centre with a permanent programme for the treatment of congenital cardiopathies. Every year it will provide services for hundreds of children from low-income families referred to it by the National Paediatrics Institute and the health sector. The patients will be seen by a team of multidisciplinary specialists responsible for restoring their health.

Consequently, in 2012, Kardias and the ABC Medical Center reached an agreement concerning the Paediatric Cardiopathies Surgical Programme for the creation of a High Specialty Centre. The objective is to provide care for patients with congenital cardiopathies referred to it by public sector institutions. It will provide care for the most marginalised sectors of the population (as well as private patients), employing the best safety practices and with international-level clinical results.

These operations require specialists such as cardiovascular surgeons, nurses and intensive care specialists, who must have received training in paediatric cardiovascular surgery and intensive care for paediatric patients undergoing heart surgery.

In November, the first goal was accomplished: the performance of over 100 operations. Consequently, a second goal was proposed: to increase the volume of cases seen and to provide care for more complex cases.

With this goal in mind, the ABC Medical Centre signed an agreement with the Texas Children’s Hospital for specialised technical advisory services and the training of physicians and nurses. This will ensure quality care for the ABC Medical Centre’s patients while strengthening the unit so it can become a centre of excellence in the region.

In its constant striving to meet the highest quality standards, as well as the best medical practices, in 2012 the ABC Medical Centre inaugurated an Intensive Rehabilitation Unit at its Santa Fe Campus. This cutting-edge intra-hospital intensive rehabilitation concept has achieved excellent results for patients with orthopaedic and neurological conditions.

The programme was established through a strategic alliance with the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, which has been ranked as the second best rehabilitation hospital in the US for 21 years and has enjoyed great prestige due its achievements over 63 years of service.

This alliance offers ABC Medical Centre patients comprehensive, highly specialised treatment using state-of-the-art technology, enabling individuals with spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, VBD, amputations, neurological disorders, and orthopaedic problems to have functionality restored and be reincorporated into the community. For this reason, our physical therapists are responsible for assessing and preparing a rehabilitation programme tailored to the needs of each of our patients. The Kessler Institute is committed to supporting this unit through a permanent training program for physicians, therapists and nurses.

Working in the community
The ABC Medical Centre is a not-for-profit private healthcare institution (institución de asistencia privada, IAP) governed by a board of trustees comprised of members of the community who provide their support on a voluntary and altruistic basis. As an IAP, we dedicate financial resources and human talent to private healthcare programmes, including health clinics and educational and research projects.

Through the ABC Brimex Clinic we support economically vulnerable communities near the Observatorio Campus with medical services, offering over 16,000 medical consultations a year as well as laboratory and imaging studies, emergency services, surgeries and hospitalisations, as well as intra- and extramural vaccinations. Among the programmes offered by the ABC Brimex Clinic is the Cleft Lip and Palate Clinic, which performs over 170 surgeries a year, while providing the child patients with medical, psychological, nutritional and dental consultations.

At the ABC Amistad Clinic, we offer medical activities and programmes to promote healthy communities among low-income families, offering consultations in such specialties as family medicine, dentistry, nutrition and psychology. We also have a mobile clinic that offers health services in areas of difficult access near the Santa Fe Campus and through the ‘Healthy Schools’ programme.

In addition to these two clinics, we bring our highly specialised surgery programmes to low-income patients: kidney transplant surgery; joint replacement surgery (hip and knee); brain tumour surgery; bariatric surgery; movement disorder surgery; KARDIAS paediatric heart surgery; and chemotherapy. We are many hands working with one heart.