PESHAWAR: The public sector Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar has performed 1,000 bariatric surgeries in the last five years, helping patients get rid of obesity, a problem that causes hypertension, diabetes and chest issues, and affects lifestyle, according to a senior doctor.

“Obesity causes high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, high cholesterol, cancer and arthritis, so it is important to undergo surgery to get rid of it,” KTH lead surgeon Prof Mohammad Zarin told Dawn.

He said Pakistan ranked 144 in the Global Obesity Observatory with 6.26 per cent of obese men, 166 with 11.7 per cent of such adult women, 151 with 3.6 per cent of boys and 181 with 2.52 per cent of girls.

Prof Zarin said 1,000 patients, including 626 men and 374 women, had been operated upon at the KTH since 2017 and only 10pc of them were shifted to the intensive care unit due to minor complications before being relocated to the ward within 24 hours.

KTH doctor says obesity requires surgical procedure

He said the procedures performed included sleeve gastrectomy, one anastomosis gastric bypass, roux-en-y gastric bypass, and some revision operations.

The surgeon said resolution of associated problems like hypertension, diabetes, joint problems, chest issues, sleep apnea infertility and cardiac issues, happened in 75-97pc patients, with the number being very close to international values.

He said that optimum weight loss was achieved in the majority of patients and follow-up by the bariatric team’s surgical department and regular monitoring continued.

“Less than five per cent of patients needed re-operation for minor complications,” he said.

Prof Zarin, who is the general secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of the Pakistan Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons and was assisted by Dr Imran Marwat and Dr Shah Zeb, said the people with obesity faced serious problems.

He said obesity had become a major public health issue but the people had yet to fully benefit from the latest form of surgery that had been introduced in public sector hospitals.

“There are misconceptions that it is unnecessary to undergo bariatric surgery as it can prove dangerous and the people can again experience obesity,” he said.

The PSMBS leader said that the procedures at the right time enabled patients to stay safe from problems.

He said at present, there were no proper medicines to control obesity, but after the research of five decades, health experts introduced bariatric surgery, which effectively controlled it.

Prof Zarin, a laparoscopic surgeon at KTH, said bariatric surgery was not dangerous nor were there any chances of the people regaining weight after undergoing surgery.

“Regaining weight after surgery is one of the complications of bariatric surgery and can happen in 10-15 per cent of patients but these figures can be minimised by choosing the right patient for the right procedure,” he said.

The PSMBS office-bearer said that obesity or metabolic syndrome was a complex disease and wasn’t just a cosmetic concern and it increased the risk of other problems like diabetes, and caused blood pressure, arthritis, chest and cardiac issues, infertility and certain cancers.

He added that it was the surgical treatment of a disease, so it could have complications just like other surgical procedures.

Prof Zarin, however, said the surgery was not dangerous if carried out by trained advanced laparoscopic, robotic and bariatric surgeons in a well-equipped health facility having all specialists like nutritionist, diabetologist, psychiatrist, pulmonologist, cardiologist and anesthesiologist.

He said that complications could be handled in a scientific way to achieve good outcomes through regular follow-up and adherence to the diet plan to help reduce the chances of weight regain.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2024