A unique program focused to create awareness about obesity and train a doctor to become a specialist in managing obesity

Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital, a super specialty hospital in Mumbai initiated ‘first-of-its-kind’ Fellowship Program on
Obesity. This is the first such program to berecognised by Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS). It is designed with an aim to train a doctor to become a specialist in managing obesity. It is planned keeping in mind the entire medical and mental support system necessary for doctors, who will receive comprehensive training for effective management of obesity from a distinguished faculty who themselves are medical experts.
Dr. Sujit Chatterjee, CEO, Dr L H Hiranandani Hospitals, said,“Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital reinforces the importance of healthy living and this initiative is a step in this direction. Thisinitiative is one of the many essential elements of the comprehensive health safety initiative to tackle obesity in India which is undertaken by the hospital and is also addressed by the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. As a responsible healthcare services provider, we intend to create awareness about obesity and enable current and upcoming healthcare professionals to become a specialist in managing obesity.”
Obesity is considered to be a modern ailment that requires an urgent attention as it is strongly linked to 110 serious diseases.
Talking about the growing prevalence of obesity in rural and urban India, Dr. Vimal Pahuja,General Physician and programme
co-ordinator, Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital said, “The world statistics place India on a very high level as far as obesity
prevalence and numbers are concerned.
According to National Family Health Survey-4, obesity burden doubled in the last decade. The obesity prevalence in rural
areas is also increased by two fold in the last 2 years suggesting that the burden of obesity is rising proportionally in rural parts
of India as well.”
“Obesity is currently not included in academia due to which there is limited understanding of the subject among medical professionals. In this one-year programme we aim to attain understanding of the disease and moving away of it being only treated at a cosmetic level. I would like to congratulate Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital& MUHS for taking the first step
towards including obesity in academia” said,Dr. Jayashree Todkar, First lady bariatric surgeon of India and Asia.
The doctors will be nominated by MUHS for this program while the course curriculum is designed by the medical experts keeping in mind that India is to become the obesity capital in next 10 years. The doctors will be trained to manage obesity with a multidisciplinary approach to ensure that they are able to make a lasting difference to the health and life of patients while educating other stakeholders on the precautionary measures to reduce obesity prevalence across India.