30 million Indians obese; surgery comes to rescue

Kolkata, Jul 15: Shocking figures on obesity in India has come to the forefront. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), as many as 30 million Indians are obese.

Raising serious concerns on the problem of obesity, which is evidently on the rise in India, the survey also found that as much as 20 per cent of school children were overweight.

Obesity is increasing in epidemic proportions globally. The problem is more rampant in developed countries.

In a workshop on Laparoscopic Bariatric surgery here, it was established that obesity raises the risk for several diseases and disorders such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and osteoarthritis.

Obese women in particular have high risk of breast cancer, uterus cancer, menstrual disorder and infertility.

The speakers at the workshop, which was held at ILS (Institute of Laparoscopic Surgery) hospital, Salt Lake, hailed the effectiveness of 'Bariatric Surgery', which has produced high success rates in treating overweight people.

In the past two years, thirty patients in the age range of 18-58 years have undergone the surgery, the surgeons informed and added, "The preoperative weights were in the range of 89-115 kg. The patients lost an average of 9 kg in one month, 23 kg in three months and 29 kg in six months after the surgery."

Bariatic surgery is a procedure in which the size of the stomach reduced.

This is achieved either with an implanted medical device or through removal of a portion of the stomach.

The surgery is also sometimes done by resecting and re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch.

OneIndia News