2^nd Middle East Obesity, Bariatric Surgery and Endocrinology Congress

Obesity is a preventable medical condition characterized by increased fat deposition in the body having serious health effects and it is a known independent risk factor for many non-communicable diseases including cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, type-2 diabetes mellitus etc. Pakistan is 9th most obese nation in world and WHO 2016 data suggests about 21% percent of Pakistan population is overweight and about 5% of population fall into obesity category. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Pakistan according to different definitions is reported to be from 18-46%, comparable to the data from other South Asian countries. Pakistan spends only 12 billion rupees on health sector which is 0.45 percent of GDP. We performed 16 laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy in public sector hospital of Pakistan from January 2015 to December 2018, out of which only 12% were done from public funds, rest of the procedures were self-financed by the patient. Mean BMI of patients was 41 kg/m2 and excess weight loss at 6 months averaged 55%. Mean postoperative hospital stay was 40 hours with no patient developing staple line leaks.