• Carried out only on morbidly obese people with body mass index (BMI) of above 40 and problems like diabetes and heart disease.
• Fifteen per cent of Kenyans are obese.
John Muthama was so obese that he was unable to walk, it was so bad he almost saw a sorcerer. His life was in danger.
After dieting for more than six years without success, the Dagoretti resident finally underwent high-risk surgery to reduce his 176kg weight.
Eighty per cent of his stomach was removed.
The procedure called sleeve gastrectomy was considered the 66-year-old man's only chance in his battle with morbid obesity.
The decision was made two weeks ago when the father of three went to Kenyatta National Hospital for help.
A team of doctors decided they needed to remove all but 20 per cent of his stomach to drastically cut this food intake.
“It involved the removal of part of his stomach, leaving a tube-shaped stomach the size and shape of a banana. This is meant to restrict the amount of food taken leading to weight loss,” lead surgeon Kennedy Ondede said.
“I had tried everything and I almost saw a sorcerer once and for all. I could wake up every morning, get help to a chair and be taken outside to bask until the evening when I could get help back to the house,” Muthama said.
Bariatric surgery is only performed on people with a body mass index (BMI) above 40 and problems such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Bariatric surgery can be performed in several ways, including by removing part of the stomach to limit food intake.
It was performed in a minimally invasive way, with surgeons making small incisions.
The surgeons passed a scope with a tiny video camera through the incisions and viewed the body cavity on a television monitor to magnify it.
They knew exactly how to operate, removing most of the stomach bit by bit thrugh the small incisions.
Surgeon Ondede says the patient has lost about 10kg so far and will lose considerably more by the end of August.
Muthama was released from the hospital on Friday.
"My life has taken a different path. I can now walk comfortably, ” he had said from his hospital bed.
Muthama now eats small portions of healthy food and is beginning to exercise.
Acting Kenyatta Hospital CEO Evanson Kamuri said the procedure costs a maximum of Sh500,000.
A similar surgery overseas usually costs Sh1.5 million.
In a press briefing, Ondede said 15 per cent of Kenyans are suffering from obesity and "it is high time they sought help."
"More Kenyans are getting to sizes they can hardly control,” Kamuri said.
Kenyatta Hospital has now started an obesity clinic to support overweight people.
Surgeons can perform as many as three procedures per theatre per day.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)