Doctors discuss bariatric surgery

GEM hospital had organised an Asian Pacific Summit on Clinical Care Pathways in association with Laprofit#9 at Taj Connemara.
Bariatric surgeons from across India participated  R Satish Babu
Bariatric surgeons from across India participated  R Satish Babu

CHENNAI: GEM hospital had organised an Asian Pacific Summit on Clinical Care Pathways in association with Laprofit#9 at Taj Connemara. The conference had around six sessions panned out on Friday and Saturday.

Bariatric surgery is an option offered mostly to diabetic patients where surgeons remove a section of the stomach to restrict the patient from overeating.  “The scope of bariatric surgery is high in India, however, we have experienced major stagnation in terms of demand for it in the past five years,” said Dr Praveen Raj, moderator of the discussion on Bariatric Surgical Stagnation.

A wide range of topics were covered from establishing a practice in bariatric surgery to how to deal with different patients that a surgeon may encounter.  Sensitive topics like the mental state and family involvement of a patient were discussed. “It is the duty of the surgeon to gauge the psychological state of the patient and maintain complete transparency with their families,” said Dr Vikram Lotwala. 

Despite the increase in bariatric surgeons in the past five years, a stagnation set in the number of patients from 2014 onwards. “Although the Tamil Nadu government health scheme does cover bariatric surgery, we don’t see much increase in the number of patients. Even the patients who undergo the operation don’t admit it and spread the word openly.

They prefer to say that they worked out to lose weight,” said Dr Deepak S, a bariatric surgeon from Andhra Pradesh. He added that compared to other weight loss options, bariatric surgery is eyed with suspicion because of the lack of awareness about the treatment.

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