The ‘Obesity Surgery Patient Support Group’ has decided to gather yet again on the 9th of July from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm at the Victorian hall, Kingsbury hotel, Colombo. The event is supported and co-ordinated by the Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery Unit at Colombo South Teaching Hospital.
Surgery to control severe obesity or ‘Bariatric Surgery’ has been a novel and a controversial topic among medical specialists, general public and the media of Sri Lanka. Due to these assumptions and non-scientific postulations, a large number of morbidly obese adults and children have been deprived of appropriate treatment for this physically and socially debilitating condition in our country for a long time. The main aim of this event is to prove with our own data and “live examples” of the successful outcomes of scientifically run Bariatric Surgical Program in our country over the last nine years where despite many obstacles we have managed to “re-shape” lives and health of over 100 Sri Lankans.
This multi-disciplinary team of experts which consists of a Surgical team lead by Dr. Thejana Wijeratne and a Medical team lead by Dr. Uditha Bulugahapitiya has commenced performing Total Laparoscopic (Key Hole) Operations mainly at Colombo South Teaching Hospital for severely obese patients with associated illnesses 9 years ago. With the expansion of the unit it started catering for patients referred from all parts of the country and managed to extend its services to private sector hospitals as well. This unique group of patients who were once “sick” with severe obesity and who completely became “ cured” and returned to their normal lives after a couple of years after surgery have initiated this Patient Support group which is an independent non-profit oriented organization by patients for the benefit of Patients.
This Years “Patient Support Group“ meeting highlights the fact that as a single Obesity Surgery Unit we have performed over 100 successful Totally Laparoscopic (Key hole) Bariatric and Metabolic Surgical procedures with successful outcomes on par with any other such established units in the western world. Scientifically analysed data on the outcomes of these operations in this unit with live patient testimonials will be presented at the event. Another key feature of the event will be the launching of the official webs’ of the Bariatric Surgical unit www.obesitysurgerysl.com.
