Lap band surgery proposal for poor

POOR, obese Australians would be given free lap- band surgery under a fighting- fat fund proposed by doctors.

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians is urging the Turnbull Government to bankroll bariatric surgery for public patients without private health insurance, as the health system continues to buckle under the nation’s $ 60 billion obesity crisis.

College president Catherine Yelland called for targeted Commonwealth funding for public hospitals to perform the procedure.

She said there needed to be a greater investment in treatment options for obesity, including bariatric surgery.

“We believe the Federal Government needs to do more to make these procedures accessible and provide hospital funding to state and territory governments specifically geared towards providing equitable access to bariatric surgery for public hospital patients,” Dr Yelland said.

The plan would ensure public hospitals would provide equitable access to bariatric surgery for public hospital patients. But it would also require states chipping in some cash, which would be needed to fund procedures and equipment, such as larger beds needed for the morbidly obese.

Dr Yelland said a 2012 study of more than 49,000 obese Australians found lap- band surgery was most available to patients who could afford private health insurance and outof- pocket costs.

Only 14 per cent of the surgery was performed on public patients.

The cost of the surgery ranges between $ 3500-$ 18,700 with private health insurance and between $ 8000-$ 27,000 without private health insurance, meaning the procedure is out of reach for many Australians.

Since 1980, obesity rates have almost tripled in Australia, with more than one in five adults aged over 20 now obese.