COIMBATORE: A city hospital has achieved a milestone by performing 50 bariatric surgeries under Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme, the first in India by the State Government.

“The surgery is a solution to the problem for obesity, which leads to uncontrolled diabetes, infertility, high blood pressure, hormonal problem, aggravated osteoarthritis and many such problems,” Dr Praveen Raj, Head Department of Diabetes and Obesity Surgery, GEM Hospital, said during an interaction with those successfully undergone the surgery.

Stating that the surgery, which is expensive, is now recognised as a life saving procedure by Tamil Nadu Government and included under the Insurance Scheme a year ago, Praveen Raj said that Gem Hospital is the only hospital which is performing maximum number of bariatric surgery in Tamil Nadu under it.

Under the scheme, five patients get approval for surgery every month, and the hospital has so far performed 50 such procedure and all the patients were doing well, he said.

He requested the Government to consider giving approval to more patients every month so that more people can be benefited by the insurance scheme, as private insurance scheme was not covering it.