Bariatric Surgery - The New Household Name

Obesity levels are increasing in India everyday. And that’s the reason why more and more people opting for bariatric surgery.

An Alarming Rise In Obesity

Around 75 surgeries performed every month in four major hospitals including Star, Global, Live Life and Kamineni (King Koti).

A few years ago, the number of surgeries was restricted to only five per month, but today, many people are choosing bariatric surgery.

According to the National Institute of Nutrition, more than 15 percent of the population in Andhra Pradesh suffers from obesity along with other conditions like diabetes and hypertension.

What The Experts Say

Dr Venugopal Pareek, Senior Consultant Bariatric and Laparoscopic Surgeon at Kamineni, King Koti, says, “The youngest patient who came to our hospital was 21 years-old. Other weight reduction techniques had completely failed in this person’s case. So far, the results have been encouraging, but we have to follow-up with patients for the next five years to ensure that there are no adverse results.”

Dr Srivenu, Senior Gastroenterologist of Cygnus Gastroenterology and Advanced Endoscopy Center, had this to say, “Surgery must be the last option. Patients must be encouraged to undergo stringent weight loss reduction methods. This is important specially in children as recent studies are indicating that obesity in school children is on the rise.”

“Surgical options are now being considered by obese patients because they feel that they can’t stop eating and also can’t exercise. They want to go under the knife to solve their problems. But it’s not that easy,” explained Senior Gastroenterologist Dr Nageshwar Reddy of Asian Institute of Gastroenterology.

Eligibility For Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric surgeries are conducted under the following conditions:

- Body Mass Index is over 37.5

- The patient is obese and suffers from hypertension and diabetes.

- Not able to reduce weight despite weight reduction programmes including both physical exercise and medication.

- Obesity has been a continuous phenomenon for last 5 years.

- Has no other major disease and does not have an history of alcohol abuse.

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