Obesity is generally considered as a disease of the well to do. A large percentage of population in the developed countries is suffering from obesity and its related problems. However, in the present era, this condition is emerging in developing countries too.  Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in India, with morbid obesity affecting five per cent of the nation’s inhabitants. The main reason for this is the increased consumption of unhealthy, processed food which has become more accessible as a result of foreign direct investments of eatery outlets in India. Genetically, Indians are susceptible to weight gain around the waist. In a study conducted by National Family Health Survey, Punjab was ranked as the state with 32 percent of obese people, followed by Kerela and Goa.

Owing to this trend, Bariatric surgery, commonly known as weight loss surgery, is becoming a commonplace at hospitals. This operation is performed on people who have body mass index (BMI) more than 40. The surgery involves stapling the stomach or re-routing small intestine to a stomach so as to decrease the absorption of nutrients and minerals by the body. This results in long-term weight loss, recovery from diabetes and improvement in cardiovascular condition.

The Institute is the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at MaxHealthcare is aptly equipped with state of the art equipments and the surgery is performed by minimal access techniques so that the patient recovery is quicker and post-surgical complications are less. The department is so skilled that the head of the institute, Dr Pradeep Chowbey, was featured in the Limca Book of Records in from 2000 to 2009 for performing the largest series of laparoscopic biliary surgery (over 50000)!