Surgery is last option to treat obesity

Abu Dhabi: A surgery to treat obesity is the last resort after exploring all other options, specialist doctors told a symposium in the capital on Saturday.

"The Bariatric and Metabolic Institute (BMI) at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) in Abu Dhabi is capable of performing surgery to treat obesity, but it is done if other treatments such as attempts for behavioural changes [life style changes] and medication are a failure," said Dr Abdul Rahman Nimeri, Director of the institute.

He was addressing the second annual obesity symposium titled "Management of Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome and Updates in Minimally Invasive Surgery, 2010."

Shaikh Nahayan Bin Mubarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, inaugurated the symposium.

Over 60 per cent of nationals are overweight in the UAE, and a growing number of them are obese, he said in his inaugural speech.

Therefore, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, depression, and cancer are on the rise and lying in wait for those whose weight is not under control, Shaikh Nahyan said.

"These problems are terrible for those individuals and for their families as well. In addition, they stress our health care system, reduce productivity, and create costs for our whole society to bear," he said.

"We need a strategy that will ensure that even as we spread prosperity and a high standard of living, we don't encourage people to make choices that jeopardise their own health and drain our national resources," Shaikh Nahyan said.

He said education is the key and it should involve all sectors of society, stressing that prevention is the number one strategy for avoiding obesity.

People must recognise that a sedentary lifestyle and a poor diet will lead to poor health, he said.