The prevalence of obesity is increasing globally and the current pandemic situation has placed a number of restrictions on the outdoor activities of most people. This has led to fewer opportunities for exercise and fitness which has made the situation worse for the morbidly obese people.
India has emerged as the global hub for medical tourism and people from all over the world are flocking to India and particularly New Delhi for their medical treatment. Recently, the morbidly obese people particularly from Africa, Gulf countries and Afghanistan have begun to come in great numbers for their bariatric surgery. This is because of the lower cost of bariatric surgery in India coupled with high quality treatment and trained doctors has gained the confidence of the foreign patients. The patients are offered a number of bariatric procedures including sleeve gastrectomy, Roux en Y gastric bypass, Minigastric bypass and Gastric banding just to name a few.
Bariatric surgery in India has developed considerably over the past two decades. Although the first bariatric surgery in India was performed almost 30 years ago, it was viewed with scepticism by the general public and the medical community at large. Gradually, the number of procedures and the trained surgeons performing them grew and presently we have almost 25000 procedures being performed annually all over India. Most of the surgeons have a basic training in laparoscopic surgery after which they get the experience in bariatric surgery from a certified training centre of excellence from India or abroad. Since the pathways of care for bariatric surgery are well established now, the results of surgery have improved dramatically and the complications have reduced which has inspired the confidence of the medical community and patients in this procedure. Most of the centres of excellence for Bariatric surgery have trained surgeons who perform a minimum of 50 bariatric procedures per year. Many of these centres are located in metropolitan cities of India namely New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Hyderabad and Bangalore just to name a few. One of the highest volume centres for Bariatric and Metabolic surgery is located in Indore by the name of Mohak Bariatrics which is headed by Dr Mohit Bhandari.
Bariatric surgery has also been proven to be an effective treatment of metabolic diseases associated with obesity namely diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, Sleep apnea, etc. and has been recommended by the American Diabetology Association ( ADA ) to be one of the first line treatments for Type 2 diabetes associated with obesity. Bariatric surgery not only leads to prolonged remission of diabetes but can also cure the disease in early cases and prevent the onset of diabetes in high risk individuals with a strong family history. To summarise, bariatric and metabolic surgery in India is growing by leaps and bounds and looking at the current scenario of increasing obesity and diabetes, it is a treatment which is here to stay.