PUNE: Over 600 poor patients with morbid obesity availed the benefit of weight loss surgery at Nagpur’s government medical college and hospital in the past 10 years.The Nagpur facility is among the three government institutes in India where the expensive weight loss surgery is offered to poor patients for almost free. The first ever meet on bariatric surgery — currently under way in the city — have brought the department heads of all the government medical colleges in the country under one roof to take the first step towards offering the life-saving procedure to the poor at their units.The two-day conference from Friday is the maiden attempt to update their knowledge, motivate and train them to start offering the surgery to needy patients.The prevalence of obesity in the country ranges from 8-38% in rural areas and 13-50% in urban areas. Obesity is a risk factor for development of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease and many cancers.“Surgeons at government medical colleges attached hospitals have tremendous potential and energy. The conference is just an attempt to inspire them to take up bariatric surgery as there are innumerable poor patients grappling with extreme obesity and have no other option but to go under the knife. But they cannot afford it at private hospitals,” said bariatric surgeon Shashank Shah, the organizing secretary of the Best Metasurg-2018.Not just the surgical expertise, scaling up the hospital infrastructure is equally crucial. “Government medical hospitals need to improve the infrastructure and surgical protocol to incorporate advanced laparoscopic and bariatric services for the needy,” Shah said.Nagpur’s surgeon Raj Gajbhiye said, “Many surgeons, especially younger surgeons, from government hospitals are being made aware of this branch of surgery (bariatric). They can update their knowledge, get motivated, undergo training and subsequently start doing it and establish this surgery at government hospitals.”Gajbhiye, in Pune to attend the conference, has been performing bariatric surgery for poor for the past 10 years. “Ours is the first hospital to start this facility in government set-up in India. J J Hospital in Mumbai and All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi are the two other government medical institutes that offer bariatric surgery in India,” he said.International bariatric surgeon Bruno Dillemans said, “The government agencies in India have to start structurally funding these surgeries as per the internationally validated criteria.”

Stay updated with all the Latest Nagpur headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.