3rd Obesity Management Congress hosted by The National Guard Health Affairs in Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Centre for Science and Technology (Scitech), Al Khobar represented by Imam Abdulrahman Al Faisal Hospital - Dammam recommended , according to the conference chairman Dr. Khalid Mirza the necessity of establishing sections that deals with professional ethics in hospitals to follow-up with bariatric surgery and to emphasize the patient’s rights in fully understanding the surgery and its outcomes.
Dr. Khalid Mirza also added that the conference presented several research papers covering aspects of bariatric surgery and defining the Gulf Obesity Surgery Society (GOSS); its mission and vision.
The conference, which was sponsored by the eastern region’s Deputy Minister of NGHA, Prince Mishaal bin Badr bin Saud Al Saud, was attended by more than 450 participants from various health sectors around the kingdom as well as the participation of 12 lecturers from Europe and the United States of America, 5 Gulf speakers, 18 Saudi speakers and Saudi Arabian Society of Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (SASMBS) who recently issued a booklet about Bariatric Surgery’s guidelines and the Saudi Journal of Obesity.
Furthermore, Dr. Mirza stated that around 60 research papers covering bariatric surgery were presented and specialized sessions were conducted which covered Diabetes and bariatric surgery, effectiveness of bariatric surgery on type 2 diabetic patients, and types of bariatric surgery that fit each patient.
Dr Ahmad Arfaj, Regional Executive Director of National Guard Health Affairs - Eastern Region said that the conference covers the latest methods of bariatric surgery’s complications prevention and treatment using stents to stop the leakage which is considered the main cause of post surgery complications and mortality, and the use of air balloons for light weights which can be easily installed and used in the clinic without any surgeries.
In Addition, Dr. Abdulmajeed Al Abdulkareem, Vice President, Postgraduate Education, KSAU-HS said:” the importance of this conference lies in the serious health problems caused by obesity which made some scientific societies to classify it as a world wide disease”. Adding that: “According to the World Health Organization estimates that there are approximately one billion and 600 million overweight adults worldwide and our region is not immune to this epidemic”.
He further explained that: “According to the World Health Organization estimates, about 60% of those aged over 16 years old are suffer from obesity in KSA which makes KSA number 29th out of 194 countries with the highest percent of overweight adults; in addition, the Deanship of Postgraduate Education & Academic Affairs has conducted more than 700 activities over the past year including workshops, training courses and conferences benefiting more than 20 thousand health professionals”.
On his part, Dr. Ayed Al Qahtani, a Professor and a Consultant in laparoscopic surgery and bariatric, said: “ The Ministry of Health is now setting up a national strategy for obesity control, and started establishing a national center for bariatric surgery in King Fahd Medical City followed by five centers across the Kingdom. He further elaborated: ” we hope these bariatric surgery centers will follow an accurate follow-up system within a national registry that allows for accurate follow-ups of all cases, complications and outcomes.
Dr. Al Qahtani finally reviewed that latest statistics that indicate that 70% of Saudi people are suffering from overweight or obesity, 50% exist in specific areas, more than half the Saudi population suffer from overweight or obesity, and obesity rates among the generation of 25 years old or less is 30% to 50%.