E-Paper
Nagpada Police Hospital gets obesity clinic for its personnel and families
The clinic, which will operate twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays), will be spearheaded by well-known obesity surgeon Dr Muffazal Lakdawala and his team
Mumbai: Long working hours, irregular sleep and unhealthy dietary habits that leads to obesity and lifestyle diseases that could turn lethal --- this isn’t just the fate of multinational corporate workers, but the 200,000-strong Mumbai police force too.
Recognising the need to address obesity, the silent killer that stands to affect the city’s ‘protectors of good and destroyers of evil’, the Nagpada Police Hospital-Mumbai Central will open an obesity clinic in its premises on September 27. The clinic, which will operate twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays), will be spearheaded by well-known obesity surgeon Dr Muffazal Lakdawala and his team.
“Policemen do not have a regular time schedule. They have to work more than the normal hours every day which leads to irregular and unhealthy eating habits. Eating habits and long working hours lead to weight gain affecting their health. After the age of 40, we see most of them being diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension and other diseases,” said Dr Kapildeo S Patil, police surgeon at the hospital.
Lakdawala’s aim will be to help police personnel and members of their family to reduce weight and inculcate healthy lifestyle habits. At an obesity camp held at the hospital campus on Friday, Lakdawala said that he noticed the struggle police personnel face in staying healthy.
“This is a small attempt in helping our policemen that will encompass non-surgical to surgical management of obesity. Our team, which will have a dietician, behaviour counsellor and obesity specialist, will be providing holistic treatment for obesity management,” he said.
The obesity clinic, run in association with Reliance Foundation, will also address gastrointestinal issues. “We soon plan to start an endoscopy clinic and have general surgeries too,” Lakdawala said.
“We drink a lot of tea and live on vada pavs. Counselling by the nutritionist and psychologist helped. I am sure the obesity clinic will help many to prevent undergoing a surgery like me,” said 33-year-old constable Rupali Kadam, who underwent bariatric surgery in February 2019.
Kadam, who was operated on by Lakdawala, will be an ambassador of the obesity clinic.
“Within a decade [of joining the force], I put on weight. We have day and night shifts and more than 12 hours duty. Even if we get our tiffin from home, we do not get time to eat,” she said.
At the time of the operation, Kadam weighed 132 kg; she now weighs 85 kg and is more conscious of her diet, she said.
Dr Patil said an obesity clinic and regular camps will ensure awareness on obesity increases. “The aim is prevention of diseases. It will help in early detection of cases. Weight loss helps in preventing and controlling many diseases including diabetes,” he said.
