Summary:
Bariatric surgery is an option offered mostly to diabetic patients where surgeons remove a section of the stomach to restrict the patient from overeating. 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. 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..