Lucknow : Weight loss surgery 10 times cheaper at KGMU
Bariatric surgery, a procedure to help people get rid of extreme obesity, may soon be performed at surgical gastroentrology department of King George's Medical University (KGMU).
Lucknow: Bariatric surgery, a procedure to help people get rid of extreme obesity, may soon be performed at surgical gastroentrology department of King George's Medical University (KGMU). The university will be offering the service at almost one-tenth the cost charged in the city's private hospitals. This, claim doctors, would compel private sector to revise their rates and slash prices.
A team of gastroentrological surgeons and anaesthetists at KGMU performed the city's first bariatric surgery recently. Briefing reporters on Saturday, head of surgical gastroentrology, Dr Abhijeet Chandra said keyhole bariatric surgery was performed on a 40-year old severely obese female patient. "She weighed more than 104 kilograms and was suffering as her weight was causing joint pain, hypertension and high cholesterol," he said. The patient was aware of bariatric surgery but could not afford it as it costs anything between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh in the private sector. "But in KGMU, she spent a total of about Rs 35,000," said Dr Chandra.
Bariatric surgery is about achieving weight loss by reducing size of stomach with a gastric band or through removal of a portion of the stomach or by re-secting and re-routing the small intestine to a small stomach pouch (read gastric bypass surgery).
"The strategy was planned keeping in mind individual problems of the patient. The procedure took around 2 hours. The stomach was divided to reduce its capacity to 150-200ml to decrease her food intake and craving for food by producing hormonal changes," explained Dr Chandra.
Bariatric surgery is indicated in patients with BMI more than 35 with components of metabolic syndrome. Long term results are encouraging and have led to permanent cure of diabetes or hypertension in addition to sustained weight loss in more than 70% cases.