“Who will operate on me?” is one of the questions we hear most. The answer is two free, public searches. They work for us and for any other offer you are considering, in Medellín or any other city in Colombia.
RETHUS is the public registry run by Colombia’s Ministry of Health. It lists every registered health professional.
The surgeon's first and last names, and their ID number. If someone will not give them to you, that is your answer.
Type “RETHUS consulta ciudadana”. The page belongs to the Ministry of Health and is in Spanish; your browser can translate it.
It shows whether they are registered and under what profession. If you don't see a specialty, don't assume: ask for their plastic surgery diploma.
REPS is the public registry of licensed clinics and offices, with the services each site is allowed to provide.
The exact name of the site where you would have surgery, not the brand that is selling to you.
Type “REPS prestadores” and look the site up by name.
To operate, the site must show code 213. Code 369 is outpatient consultation only: enough to see you in an office, not to operate on you.
Ask whether it is an anesthesiologist and whether they stay in the room for the whole surgery.
And who looks after me: whether there is nursing, and at what hours.
Expensive does not mean quality. But when something is very cheap, what is missing is the licensed operating room, the anesthesiologist or the certified surgeon.
Updated November 2026.
As your case moves forward, we send you your surgeon's profile on WhatsApp, with first and last names. With that, you run the RETHUS search yourself.
No. Both are public and free.
“Board-certified” is a United States term. As a guide, in Colombia you can check two things yourself: that the surgeon appears on RETHUS, and whether they are a member of the Colombian Society of Plastic Surgery.
Yes, and that is the point: run these searches on any offer you have, not only ours.