SWAT: Medical experts here on Friday warned that obesity was the root cause of several diseases, including high blood pressure, cancer and heart attack, and called for adopting a healthy lifestyle to stay away from being overweight.

They were speaking at the concluding session of a bariatric surgery workshop held in Luqman International Hospital.

The event was endorsed by Pakistan Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (PSMBS).

Dean of Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, Dr Miangul Mahmud Aurangzeb was the chief guest, while laparoscopic and bariatric surgeons Dr Aatif Inam Shaami, Dr Ghulam Siddique, Dr Tahir Younus, Dr Imran Abbas, Prof Jehanzeb Malik, Prof Imran Abbas, young and senior surgeons from across the country participated in the workshop.

Apart from lectures and panel discussions, several live surgery sessions were also conducted to train the young surgeons.

“Obesity is a serious threat which causes several other diseases including high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, high cholesterol, cancer and arthritis in a human being. Unfortunately, there are no proper medicines to control obesity; however, after 50 years of research medical experts have introduced a new form of surgery known as bariatric surgery which is effective in controlling obesity,” said Dr Miangul Aurangzeb, adding the bariatric surgery was performed through laparoscopic technique.

“Pakistan is among the top 10 countries where the ratio of overweight and obese people is high. If the current rate continues Pakistan will likely be move from its ninth position to be among the top three countries by 2030,” disclosed Dr Shah Abbas, the workshop organiser.

He said intake of energy-dense foods containing fats and sugars, including junk food, cold drinks, adulterated and fatty foods, caused obesity.

The experts stressed that people must adopt a healthy lifestyle to avoid obesity and many other diseases associated with it. They said a balanced diet and regular exercise must be adopted to avoid being overweight.

They said bariatric surgery included a variety of procedures, which were not only dependent upon the skills of a surgeon but also proper infrastructure and advanced technology.

The medical experts said in 2016 more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight, and of these over 650 million were obese.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2021