Bariatric patients walk the ramp

PUNE: What better way to felicitate a surgeon for her work than 50 of her weight loss surgery patients ready to walk the ramp for her to mark completion of her decade long practise in surgery.
Poona Hospital held a first of its kind fashion show recently. The fashion show, fittingly called Evolve, included slimmer looking patients who underwent bariatric and laprascopic surgery.
"One of the biggest pleasures our weight loss patients experience after surgery is the ability to walk into a regular store and find something in their size. It was during a support group meeting, patients came up with the idea of fashion show, the enthusiasm among the patients was infectious. I could think of no better way to celebrate my ten year in the practice than with my patients by my side," Jayashree Todkar said.
Bariatric surgery has increasingly found takers in India over the last decade. India continues to grapple with the problem of obesity with a recent report released by Overseas Development Institute (ODI) stating that the percentage of obese and overweight in India rose from about 9 per cent of the population in 1980 to 11 per cent in 2008.
Todkar, claimed to be India's first female bariatric surgeon, is the director of the department of bariatric and metabolic surgery at Ruby Hall Clinic, Poona Hospital and Research Centre and at the Dr. L. H. Hiranandani Hospital in Mumbai. Apart from treating hundreds of patients, she has also trained over 300 surgeons in India and abroad.