Acidity is a very common health condition, but makes individuals dependant on drugs all through their lives. Once the drugs are discontinued, acidity strikes back with vengeance, making it difficult for patients to recover. While long-term use of such drugs does have implications, surgeons from Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) said there is now a one-time surgery that could permanently give respite to patients struggling with acidity. On Wednesday, founder of AIG, D. Nageshwar Reddy, said they have managed to adopt a novel surgery for GERD, invented by a Japanese professor Haro Innoue. “This is a minimally invasive procedure, means it can be done through endoscopy and within 30 minutes,” he said, while interacting with press persons on Wednesday. The first patient to undergo such a surgery, Ammullu, a nurse from maternity hospital from Chittoor, at AIG was also present. “I am already feeling the difference in just ten days after the surgery,” she said. While the cost of such a surgery in Japan was Rs. Five lakh, AIG surgeons said they have managed to bring down the cost to Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000.
