Live laparoscopic bariatric surgery symposium held at PIMS

Islamabad:The fourth consecutive live laparoscopic international bariatric surgery symposium was held at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) here, says a press release.
The international symposium was organised by the department of General Surgery under the supervision of Dr. Aatif Inam Shami a renowned General, Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgeon.
Chief guest of symposium was Prof Dr Mumtaz Maher, Dr Syed Imran Abbas from UAE and Dr Aatif Inam Shami from PIMS were master trainers . This symposium was attended by majority of leading bariatric Surgeons in Pakistan. Over 200 surgeons from all over the Pakistan attended the live bariatric surgery symposium.
Prof Tanwir Khaliq chairman UDGS, PIMS started the symposium with welcome address. Program included live demonstration of OAGB in two super obese patients by Dr Imran Abbas assisted by Bariatric surgical team at PIMS. During the surgery several questions were made by audience which generated interactive discussion.
Pakistan is ranked 9th out of 188 countries in terms of obesity according to Global burden of disease study published in Lancet med journal. BMI of Pakistan is above 30 for 14% of men & women on a global level. It is seen that very fourth obese person develops type two DM. Diabetic people are more prone to CVS diseases, Diabetes, Hypercholestrolemia, osteoarthritis, & cancer. This soaring number is placing a heavy burden on our health care Excess body weight is estimated to have cause 3.4 million deaths in 2010.
Treatment of obesity starts with comprehensive lifestyle management that includes diet, physical activity & behaviour modification. There are countless non surgical weight loss strategies available. Most of them are ineffective & short term particularly to those who are morbid obese. Bariatric surgery comes as a ray of hope for these people. Common bariatric operation done all over the world are MGB/OAGB, Sleeve Gastrectomy &RYGBP .
During Lunch a meeting was held which was attended by Dr Mumtaz Maher, Dr Aatif Inam, Dr Imran Abbas, Dr Farooq Afzal, Dr Ghulam Siddique, Dr Shahzad Aslam, Dr Saeed Qureshi, Dr Arif Malik and Dr Tanseer.
The participants emphasised the need of a society to educate about advances in treatment of obesity and DMT2. PSMBS name was suggested by Dr Aatif and was approved by all. Dr Mumtaz Maher was unanimously selected as president of society. Dr Farooq Afzal and Dr Aatif were assigned to make rules and regulations of society and decided to meet at Lahore on 7th January to finalise the society and its chapters.
Post-launch session highlight was when leading bariatric surgeons from USA, Spain and UAE joined through internet and addressed the gathering about various aspects of metabolic surgery. Prof Carbajo from Spain showed his video of OAGB, how he does it. Prof Layani gave a brief talk about bariatric surgical procedures. Both expressed their eagerness to visit Pakistan in future on Dr Aatif’s invitation .
Dr Rutledge joined through FB live and had a in-depth discussion about various aspects of MGB. Dr Farooq Afzal and Dr Aatif asked questions regarding his surgical technique and MGB outcomes. Dr Rutledge also announced that he will conduct a training course in MGB on March 10-11 in Pakistan at PIMS.
At the end guests were given shields and pro MM was awarded LTA from PIMS.
The guest of honour and founder of Society of Surgeons, Professor Mumtaz Mehr, appreciated the performance of the surgeons and said that this event is a major breakthrough in the field of surgery for the treatment of obesity. Later on Prof Mumtaz Mehr distributed the shields and certificates to all the surgeons.
He further said such symposiums were very much informative adding that the introduction of the latest technology was the dire need of the hour.Plea to government support individuals who are bringing international standard surgical treatment in government sector from their own pockets
Dr Aatif students are doing research projects to see effects of metabolic surgery in Pakistani population Govt and HEC should come forward and support him.With 20 million we can kick start and operate 100 patients.With estimated three billion a Bariatric surgery centre can be established in Pakistan and will help to fight the pandemic of obesity and Diabetes