Al Ahli to set up latest weight-loss procedure

Qatar is set to have one of the most promising endoscopic weight-loss procedures soon with Al Ahli Hospital working to have a trans-oral sleeve gastroplasty.
The hospital is set to launch first of its Qatar Council for Health Professional (QCHP) accredited symposiums by the end of the month, aimed at all health professionals in the country.
Experts from some nine countries will converge here for the symposium on March 31 and April 1, at Katara, discussing about obesity and overweight issue.
“Qatar comes fourth in the world in terms of prevalence of obesity according to World Health Organisation. However, when it comes to the children with obesity, Qatar is ranked first. We should not be looking at managing obesity in children any more. We should rather focus on preventing obesity in children,” Dr Abdul Azim Hussain, chief of medical staff, Al Ahli Hospital told The Peninsula.
The hospital is working with partners to have trans-oral sleeve gastroplasty, which is a new incision less weight-loss surgery movement that uses mouth to perform gastric sleeve surgery instead of cuts and slits in the skin. Surgeon inserts equipment for procedure down the throat and cut the stomach size as required.
“The concept of surgery is changing. In few years, we won’t be doing any abdominal surgeries, we will be doing all orally either for reflux diseases or for obesity. We have already started doing post surgery procedure that reduce stomach size by 40 percent by trans-oral procedure,” he said.
“Very soon we will start doing trans-oral sleeve gastroplasty, which is an all new procedure. We are working with the partners in Europe to have the procedure here. Since it is new, currently we are waiting to see the outcomes of the surgery first,” he said.
The hospital sees one of the highest number of people going under knife to shed the body weight. “We are doing highest number of weight loss procedures, with more than 1,000 gastric balloon cases annually and some 400 gastric sleeve surgeries each year,” he said.
Meanwhile, the two-day conference will address various aspects of obesity. The first day will see experts talk on cause, genetics and effect of obesity on human body, while the second day will focus on surgical procedures and latest innovations in the field.
“This is the first of many other QCHP accredited conferences on different medical specialities, which will follow. We have been accredited for CME training both locally and internationally and have fulfilled all requirements for conducting medical educational and professional programmes in different areas of health in Qatar,” said Khalid Al Emadi, CEO of Al Ahli Hospital.