 OSSICON 2007
The 5th National Congress OSSICON 2007, hosted by Lifeline Multi-Speciality Hospital, under the auspices of The Obesity Surgery Society of India (OSSI), was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala. Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Secretary V K Subburaj was the guest of
honour.
“The world is supposedly having an obesity problem, such that there are now weight loss clinics in Africa. In India, obesity has shot up 50 per cent in eight years and a survey conducted among women aged between 20 and 69 showed that 55 per cent of this population was found to be overweight. This conference will help several severely obese people lose weight and subsequently control their diabetes and hypertension thus leading longer and healthier lives. This will help India step down from being the diabetic capital of the world,” said the Governor in his inaugural address.
Subburaj said, “The state government is taking steps to screen and aid the population with the ‘Varumun Kappom Scheme’. This scheme screens for gestational diabetes and has found that 17.8 per cent of pregnant women have gestational diabetes. The scheme has already conducted 600 camps in three months and plans to further conduct 9,000 camps in two years. The government has also taken steps to screen for HIV virus to prevent the disease from being transmitted from this generation to the next.”
The Congress began on March 16, 2007, and was conducted over three days. It provided excellent opportunities to witness various techniques performed by the reputed international and national faculty on the treatment and management of morbid obesity.
“The number of people afflicted with obesity was increasing worldwide and stood at about 7 per cent of the population now. Obesity among children is also on the rise and this is a far greater issue as obese children grow up to be obese adults and this leads to a whole array of health complications. The public have to be made aware of the scientific treatment of obesity,” P K Chowbey, president, Obesity Surgery Society of India
(OSSI).
Over three days, presentations were made by various doctors on Consequences of morbid obesity, Management of morbid obesity, Restrictive surgeries, Malabsortive surgeries, Surgical update, said Dr J S
Rajkumar.
A panel discussion on Restrictive vs. Malabsortive procedures was held on March 17, 2007. Live demonstrations of procedures were conducted on March 16, 17 at Lifeline Multi-Speciality Hospital, Perungudi, and were relayed to Hotel Park Sheraton through telemedicine (video conferencing). The procedures performed were Gastric banding, Sleeve Gastrectomy, Gastric by-pass and Bilio-pancreatic diversion. The delegates of OSSICON 2007 were able to witness these procedures live at Hotel Park Sheraton.
The National Congress saw the participation of doctors from all over the country, including United States and Belgium, which included presentation of papers, performing live surgeries and participating in the panel discussion.
The faculties present at the congress included Dr Michel Gagner – US and Dr Jacques Himpens – Belgium, Dr Pradeep Chowbey - Delhi, Dr Mahendra Narwaria - Ahmedabad, Dr Aasish Vashishta – Delhi, Dr Shrihari Dhorepatil - Pune, Dr Ramana – Kolkata, Dr John AC Thanakumar – Coimbatore, Dr C Palanivelu - Coimbatore, Dr T S Balashanmugam – Coimbatore, Dr Shashank Shah - Pune, Dr Mohammed Ismail – Kerala, Dr Ramesh Ardhanari - Madurai, Dr Ramen Goel - Mumbai, Dr J B Agarwal – Mumbai, Dr Muffazal Lakdawala – Mumbai, and Dr J S Rajkumar – Chennai.
R Rangaraj
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