Obesity & Metabolic Surgery Society of India
OSSI is a not for profit, member based body of bariatric surgeons in India. As a scientific organization, it brings together other clinical experts such as Anaesthesiologists, Endocrinologists, Psychiatrists, Dieticians, Nurses etc. also within its ambit for the cause of treating morbidly obese patients.
OSSI aims to support its members in aspects directly related to their profession, to optimize outcomes of treatments offered to severely obese patients.
OSSI activities are focused on skill enhancement, information exchange and knowledge sharing on surgical treatments for severely obese patients. It helps present new techniques, research, concepts to its members, who are experts in the field. OSSI today organizes member meetings twice a year to facilitate networking, learning and knowledge sharing amongst its members.
It was in 2002 Dr. Shrihari Dhorepatil, himself a renowned bariatric surgeon brought forth the idea of forming an association of bariatric surgeons in India that could bring them together on a national platform and serve to integrate their knowledge and experiences for the advancement of bariatric treatments in India
Obesity & Metabolic Surgery Society of India (OSSI) was formed in September 2002 with Dr Shrihari Dhorepatil as its Founder President.
It goes to the credit of Dr Andrew Jamiesson (Australia) then Vice-President, International Federation for Surgery of Obesity (IFSO), who recommended OSSI association with IFSO, to develop bariatric surgery in India. OSSI joined IFSO in 2003 during the IFSO Congress in Salamanca, Spain, which was attended by a very large delegation of bariatric surgeons from India.
Since its inception, OSSI continues to receive guidance from its esteemed past office bearers and members
OSSI milestones
The first annual of conference of OSSI, aptly christened "OSSICON" was held in March 2003 in Mumbai with Dr T E Udwadia, pioneer of MAS in India as the Organizing Chairman & Dr Shrihari Dhorepatil as the Organizing Secretary. OSSICON since then has become a regular annual national event on OSSIs calendar with other OSSICON venues being New Delhi (2004), Ahmedabad (2005), Pune (2006), Chennai (2007), Kolkata (2008), Hyderabad (2009), Jaipur (2010), Indore (2011), New Delhi (2012), Bangalore (2013), Ahmedabad (2014), Mumbai (2015), and Chandigarh (2016).
OSSICON today facilitates a rare confluence of Indias best bariatric talent at one place. In 2012, OSSI also had the honour of organizing IFSOs world Congress in Delhi under the Chairmanship of Dr Pradeep Chowbey, who later served as IFSO President (2012-2013). OSSI also has been given the privilege of conducting the prestigious IFSO-APC in 2017 under the leadership of Dr. Jayashree Todkar.