The Bariatric Center of Excellence at Mather Hospital under the direction of Arif Ahmad, MD is marking a decade of success this year. The Center has helped thousands of individuals reclaim their lives and experience vast improvements to their health through bariatric surgery and the continuing support and counseling of the Center’s staff.

"Obesity is a serious health problem in our communities and it is really affecting people’s quality of life in a big way," said Dr. Ahmad. "Bariatric and metabolic surgery results in correction of a lot of health problems that these patients have such as diabetes, which is resolved in more than 85 percent of people after a bypass, and high blood pressure, which is resolved in a similar number of people. The same is true for sleep apnea."

Among the program’s milestones and achievements:

•            Dr. Ahmad has completed almost 3,000 bariatric cases at Mather Hospital.

•             For the past year, the sleeve gastrectomy procedure has been performed more than any other bariatric procedure at Mather. This procedure enables rapid weight loss with fewer complications than the more conventional weight loss surgeries without the need for intestinal bypass.

•             In 2011, Dr. Ahmad became the first surgeon in Suffolk County to perform robotic bariatric surgery using the da Vinci robot. He has completed 224 robotic bariatric surgery cases to date with a 0% complication rate for leaks, bleeds, infections or return to the OR within 30 days.

•             Over the past seven years the Bariatric Program at Mather has achieved Center of Excellence designation from Surgical Review Corporation and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and was recently accredited for another three years.

"My partnership with Mather Hospital has been a very successful one that has resulted in our becoming one of the primary centers for bariatric surgery on Long Island," said Dr. Ahmad. "It has been such as rewarding journey for me. I love doing the surgeries but I also love seeing the results. I’m so thankful that I can be a part of the journeys of these patients."

Hear what some of Dr. Ahmad’s patients have to say about their journeys at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSO1d2RxlOk&list=UU5nGeIEN7s0ek4eoPtyNWQQ or visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/matherhospital