More patients have surgery to lose weight
May 28th 2008
New figures show that the number of patients undergoing weight-loss stomach-surgery has increased by 41%.
More than 3,400 gastric bypass operations for obesity were carried out in 2006-07. Growing fears about the health risks of obesity could be driving more patients to seek drastic help to lose weight.
Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “These figures reflect the cost of obesity. Gastric bypass surgery is a last-ditch solution and the number of operations will continue to rise sharply in the future unless we do a lot more to encourage people to be more active and eat more healthily. The Government is failing on reducing obesity, which is sadly unsurprising given that public health budgets have been cut.”
The Department of Health rejected the criticism and said it was planning a £75m campaign to tackle obesity aimed at persuading people to change their eating habits and to take more exercise.
(Independent, p8; Telegraph, p6; Express, p15; Mirror, p8)
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