Young sisters Yogita and Amisha finally got the bariatric surgery they need in order to reduce their weight and help them live healthier lives.
The surgery can help the sisters to reduce the amount of food they eat without experiencing malabsorption.
Yogita And Anisha's Condition
In 2015, obese sisters Yogita and Anisha made the news rounds when their father planned to sell his kidney just so he can fund his daughters' treatments. At the time, Yogita weighed 33.5 kg at just 5 and a half years old while her younger sister Anisha already weighed 47 kg.
Their father did everything he could just to feed the massive appetites of his daughters, even to the point of borrowing money. The family had even reduced the diets of the sisters to just two chapatis and vegetable broth for lunch and dinner, but the girls still kept on gaining weight. Furthermore, the girls were already having breathing problems because of their condition.
For the last three years, the family has transferred from one hospital to another to seek treatments for Yogita and Anisha. However, none of it yielded long-term results and helped the girls to live healthier lives.
Surgery For Free
Recently, Dr. Mahendra Narwaria, Asia's leading bariatric surgeon, invited the family over to his clinic in Ahmedabad in western India to have the girls checked. Apparently, the doctor had seen the girls from the newspapers and was expecting them to reach out to him or to the government for help. When they hadn't, however, he decided to make the first move to offer his services.
"If left, these children would not see adulthood, they would die young.," said Dr. Narwaria.
He also stated that the girls' condition is due to a genetic condition and Leptin receptor deficiency, but there is no specific name for their condition.
The nine-hour train ride to see Dr. Narwaria proved fruitful as he offered to do the sisters' bariatric surgery for free, and to provide long-term guidance for their permanent weight loss. Last March 6, the sisters had the surgery and were able to eat solid food just seven days after.
The girls' parents are thankful to Dr. Narwaria and are hopeful for their daughters' futures. As for the girls, now 6 and 8 years old, their parents say that they are already improving.
Bariatric Surgery
Bariatric surgeries are done to help cause weight loss by reducing the amount of food that the stomach can hold. These are done in severe cases of obesity, which can lead to various health problems such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, and respiratory problems.
There are various ways in which a bariatric surgery may be performed, all of which are designed to lessen food intake. However, for Yogita and Amisha's case, Dr. Narwaria performed a gastric band surgery, which involves placing an inflatable band in the upper portion of the stomach.
Evidently, the band works by reducing the amount of food that the stomach can hold and reduce the feeling of hunger while not affecting the absorption of nutrients.
