Delhi to host 1st world consensus meeting on bariatric metabolic surgery standardization

New Delhi : World's first consensus meeting on bariatric metabolic surgery standardization is all set to start from March 22 to March 24 here.

With more than 100 surgeons participating from all over the world, the two-day unique confluence will offer a glimpse on the growing number of obesity problem in the country and across the world.

J P Nadda, Health Minister will be the guest of honour. Dr. Arun Prasad, President, Obesity Surgery Society of India will be presiding over the event and will present Indian data on obesity and type 2 diabetes.

As per a recent survey, India has 7.5 crores obese population with five crores of morbidly obese. India has eight crores of type 2 diabetics, and 25% of them are morbidly obese.

Obesity results in 1.5 % of our GDP drain and 250 million dollars of additional cost to treatment for complications arising out of obesity and type 2 diabetes. India has 9.5 % of its adolescent population as overweight and 5 % as obese. This population gets converted to adult morbidly obese in future and causes problems like heart disease.

The panels of doctors will submit a white paper draft with a petition to the Union Health & Family Welfare Minister to declare obesity as a disease and a non-cosmetic problem so that it will help insurers to bring bariatric surgery under its ambit.

According Dr. Mohit Bhandari, Chairman, Bariatric Metabolic Surgery Center, Indore, "There is a myth that exists regarding bariatric surgery where most of the Government bodies still consider it cosmetic surgery. As per the medical council of India, the bariatric surgery comes under the rubric of surgical gastroenterology and therefore should come under health insurance."

The significant challenges to combat obesity in India is lack of awareness about causes of obesity, lack of protocol-based scientific treatment of obesity, ever growing type 2 diabetes, lack of Government initiative to recognize obesity as a disease, lack of reimbursement by premier insurance stakeholders for obesity and its treatment.

Dr. Arun Prasad, President, Obesity Surgery Society of India (OSSI), said, "There is growing need to understand the developing obesity and type 2 diabetes crises in India. India has been ranked number three country in terms of obesity problem in the world. We are succeeded only by China and United States of America. The pressing need is to involve stakeholders at one common platform who can define the disease, estimate the disease burden, suggest a policy to treatment and put forward guidelines to expand access to obesity care by both insurance companies and Government."