FAT CHANCE OF CURE
As the diabesity epidemic in India gobbles up the population at a rocket rate, MEENAKSHI RAO looks at the efficacy of surgical interventions that are being coined as the best instruments of cure Indians, by tradition, consider surgical options as the last resort to treating any ailment. They view surgeons as that merciless breed of medics ready to cut into them at the drop of a prescription. But it is people like an obese Jaya (name changed) who came all the way from small-town Jhansi to Delhi and aggressively argued that she needed to be put to knife, who are changing perception. “She was 110 kg at a 5 feet height and not medically literate. But she just took three days to decide that she needed to undergo bariatric surgery. First day, she had lots of enquiries, the second day her tests and third day the operation. Today, she is 60 kg and cured of her diabesity,” Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis-CDOC Centre of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases and Endocrinology, Ne