Manini Agarwal, 42, and Indrani Chaudhuri, 15, (names changed on request) were gaining kilos by the week. Both tried the usual remedial options, diet control and exercise, but couldn’t shed a gram.

On advice of doctors, they went for bariatric surgery and days later, their weight is back to normal.

More and more experts are banking on bariatric surgery as the surest way to treat obesity, which has risen to an alarming level in the country.

“I did the first operation in June 2005. Since then, there have been nine more cases,” says Vishnu Kumar Bhartia, of AMRI Hospitals.

A businessman who has gone through the surgery recalled his experience: “A year ago, my weight was 145 kg. I managed to bring it down to 124 kg before I was operated on. And in the 26 days since the surgery, I lost nine kg.”

Doctors say this quick rate of weight reduction is making bariatric surgery popular. “Weight reduction through diet control or exercise fails in most cases. But in bariatric surgery, it is guaranteed,” says B. Ramana, attached to Wockhardt Hospitals and Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals.

There are three types of bariatric surgery: Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Binding, Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass and Sleeve Gastrectomy.

In the Gastric Binding surgery, a silicon band is attached to the upper part of the stomach, creating a small pouch that can hold only a small amount of food. The narrow opening of the pouch restricts the food flow into the stomach.

In Gastric Bypass, the stomach is stapled to create a small pouch, from where food passes directly into the small intestine, bypassing the lower stomach and upper intestine. This results in reduced absorption of food.

In Sleeve Gastrectomy, the stomach capacity, which varies from one to 1.5 litre, is reduced to 100 cc. Besides, the part of the stomach that secretes Ghrelin, a hunger hormone, is removed.

Two hospitals in the city — AMRI and Apollo — perform bariatric surgery, while Wockhardt Hospitals will come up with a “comprehensive programme” from August.