Life changing procedures: PIMS surgeons learn metabolic surgery

In Pakistan every seventh person is diabetic, 90% cases caused by obesity

ISLAMABAD: Famous American Laparoscopic Metabolic Surgeon Prof Dr Robert Rutledge performed a metabolics surgery as a demonstration at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) to train about 30 surgeons gathered from all over Pakistan to learn the operation techniques.

Prof Rutledge is a pioneer in Laparoscopic Metabolic Surgery and is founder of Laparoscopic Mini Gastric Bypass (MGB) operation which treats and cures diabetes and obesity effectively. Dr Rutledge had invented the operation in 1997 and has been conducting it for the last 20 years.



In MGB operation such hormones are created in stomach that suppress hunger, and from small intestine that cause increase sensitivity insulin and reverse the mechanism by which obesity induces type 2 diabetes.

He is conducting two courses at PIMS on invitation of Associate Professor in General Surgery, Dr Aatif Inam Shami who has been regularly performing weight loss and Metabolic Surgeries at PIMS for the last four years.

In the two-day training and certification course more than 30 surgeons from all over Pakistan have been participating to get certified as Bronze Certification for Surgeon of Excellence by MGB Review Corp provided they pass this course.

It is of interest that these are the first two courses in Laparoscopic Metabolic Surgery in the world to be held. Dr Rutledge will be doing 30 such courses all over the world this year. He  was supposed to hold these trainings in India but Dr Inam convinced him to first come to Pakistan.

“In Pakistan every seventh person is diabetic and 90 per cent of them have type two diabetes due to obesity,” said Inam adding that 45 million people are obese in Pakistan. Metabolic surgery cures both diseases and saves expenses on insulin averting chances of organ damage and amputations.

At Pims this operation costs between Rs0.2 million while in private sector more than Rs0.7 million are charged.

In the MGB operation hormones are created in stomach that suppress hunger, by creating immunity to insulin and reverse one of the primary mechanisms by which obesity induces type-two diabetes.

Dr Inam said he has done many such operations and cured diabetes in many patients even those who had the disease for the last 30 years.

“Patients are discharged after a few hours of operations and are finally rid of this lifelong disease forever,” he said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2018.