India is emerging as one of the fastest-growing centers in the global market for weight loss surgery. Two thirds of wealthy urban Indians are now overweight.
Like 56-year-old Chander Kataria and 65-year-old Mohan Gulati.
Chander weighs 85 kilos while Mohan is over 120 kilos.
They are both trying desperately to lose weight... one of the efforts are having a morning routine: a walk around the Bhagat Singh Garden in Jaipur.
“I try to exercise, shake and vibrate every organ of my body but it’s not working,” says Chander.
Chander has tried many ways to lose weight, including diets and working out at a gym.
“This is my eighth round on the bike. I have done so much but nothing has helped. I think surgery is now the only option.”
Rana Kumar is his gym coach. He says Chander is typical of his clients.
“The cause of growing obesity is people’s sedentary life styles. People sitting around and not doing enough exercise and eating junk food. We advice them to do exercise and control their diet. If that doesn’t work we suggest surgery.”
A quarter of wealthy urban Indians are now obese, and obesity is increasing rapidly among urban school children.
There is now a lot of money to be made in weight loss surgery.
Dr Akhilesh Sharma from Abhishek Cosmetic Surgery Centre says business is booming.
“I do around 1 or 2 liposuctions every week and the patients come from all walks of life. They may be literate, semi-literate, or from a very high class... but their aim is to get slim.”
The operation costs around 1000 US dollars. And it’s estimated that around ten thousand similar surgeries will be carried out across India each year.
This is the same country that is known as the hunger capital of the world... A fourth of people in India don’t have enough to eat.
Shyamvati Devi sends her children to school not so that they can get an education but so they get at least one meal a day.
“The children enjoy the free food. I have four children but keep only these two daughters with me as I am very poor. I have lost my husband and I don’t have a job. The other two lives at my relatives place as I am unable to feed them.”
In the same city… Chandra and the urban elite have become addicted to fast food.
India’s growing economy has attracted the international food joints. As a result, urban Indians diets have changed.
Chander’s sister, 43-year-old Preeti Gupta also tells me she is planning to get surgery.
“I want to lose weight to be fit. I don’t want to have knee pain or heal pain at this early age. So I really want to lose weight for that.”
