Dr. Ajay Kumar Kriplani — Principal Director & HOD - Laparoscopic GI in Delhi NCR

Dr. Ajay Kumar Kriplani is Principal Director and HOD of Laparoscopic GI, GI Onco, Bariatric & MIS Surgery at Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Delhi NCR, with more than 40 years of experience in general surgery.

His procedure list is wider than bariatrics alone. The weight loss operations are sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, minimally invasive and robotic bariatric surgery, and metabolic surgery for type 2 diabetes. Alongside them sit gastrectomy, colorectal resection and complex gastrointestinal resections, which are cancer operations, along with adrenalectomy, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia repair and appendectomy. To hold obesity surgery and major gastrointestinal cancer surgery in one practice is unusual, and it means the laparoscopic technique is the same whether the target is the stomach's size or a tumour in the colon.

His qualifications are MBBS, MS in general surgery, and four fellowships: FIAGES from the Indian Association of Gastrointestinal Endosurgeons, FICLS from the International College of Laparoscopic Surgeons, FALS from the Academy of Laparoscopic Surgeons and FAIS from the Association of Indian Surgeons.

He has worked at Safdarjung Hospital, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital and at the Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, all in New Delhi, before his current post at Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon.

He was the first surgeon in India to perform a laparoscopic adrenalectomy and the first to perform a laparoscopic splenectomy. He is a past president of IAGES, and the fellowship programs he introduced under it are widely acclaimed nationally.