Pramod Arya (57) weighed 147kg last year. The head clerk at the Collectorate could not even walk 50 yards. He used to start panting as soon as he started walking. Today, he weighs 106kg.

However, this was possible only after getting a bariatric surgery done.

Apart from Pramod, 23-year-old Vinita Stefy, an AG Colony resident, underwent the operation to fight obesity. She weighed 108kg three weeks ago. She lost 7kg in the past three weeks and hopes to shed a few more kilos in the coming week.

Both Arya and Stefy are happy today. While Arya got his bariatric surgery done at City Ford hospital last year, Vinita went under the knife at the Paras HMRI Hospital on May 27 this year. Bariatric surgery is getting popular among residents. While earlier residents used to go to metro cities to get it done, they are getting it done in the city itself. Sources said earlier bariatric surgeons were not available in the city but in the past one-and-a-half years, surgeons from noted hospitals of other states and even abroad have come to the city and are practising here. Patna can now boast of bariatric surgeons from Kings College Hospital, London, and All India Institute of Medical sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi among other noted institutions.

At Paras HMRI, there is Dr U.B. Singh, who was earlier associated with Kings College Hospital and has experience of conducting more than 200 surgeries there. Dr Praveen Kumar, earlier working with AIIMS-New Delhi, is now associated with Ford Hospital.

Dr Singh, who started doing the procedure in Paras since January this year, said: "In bariatric surgery, we cut 80 per cent of the stomach which results in weight loss. The normal volume of a stomach is around 1,500ml but after the surgery it becomes 150ml. The stomach is narrowed through surgery so that the patient feels full after taking smaller meals. But only surgery does not help in the weight loss. We ask the patient to take a low-calorie diet and keep exercising regularly. Only if the patient follows these instructions, results can be found," said Singh. He added that Paras HMRI Hopsital has its own separate department (bariatric surgery) unlike other hospitals in the city to take care of the procedure.

On instructions which the patient has to follow post surgery, Singh said: "For the first four weeks, the patient has to depend on only liquid diet which can include chicken soup, lamb soup and others. From the 4th to 6th week, the patient takes ground diet. From the sixth week, the patient has to return to the solid diet gradually."

At Paras HMRI and Ford Hospital, one has to shell out something around Rs 2 lakh to get the surgery done while if one visits hospitals in Delhi, Calcutta and Mumbai, for the same procedure, they would have to shell up around Rs 4 lakh.

Those getting the surgery done here in Patna are happy. "I am happy that city has hospitals where bariatric surgery is now being conducted. This has saved us from taking burden of visiting other cities," said Vinita Stefy.

She added: "My parents and family members were not happy with my decision initially when I told them that I wanted to get a bariatric surgery done. However, when I got it done over here at Paras HMRI hospital and lost a few kilos, my parents and family members were more than happy. Had I gone to some other city to get the procedure done, I would have been more tense."