An estimated 2000 people in the Wanganui region are reckoned to be morbidly obese, and if they all underwent weight-loss surgery at Wanganui Hospital it would cost the district health board about $70 million.
That calculation is made from figures presented to the Whanganui District Health Board's community and public health and disability support advisory committee.
Now the committee is asking the board to investigate the prospect of weight-loss - or bariatric - surgery and carrying out the operations as part of Wanganui Hospital's elective surgeries roster.
But a background paper said the dilemma facing the board was how it could fund bariatric surgery, estimated to cost from between $25,000 and $35,000, depending on the procedure used.
Ministry of Health figures show that obesity is increasing in New Zealand. Based on current data there are an estimated 2000 people in the Wanganui health district classified as morbidly obese.
A person with "body mass index" (BMI) of 40 or more is considered morbidly obese.
Bariatric surgery is not part of the health board's elective list but is carried out at other hospitals, mainly in the Auckland region.
Obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing more than 30 serious health conditions or diseases. Among them are heart disease, high blood pressure, liver disease, gout, diabetes, respiratory problems and cancer.
The increasing numbers of obese people in our community has prompted the health board to investigate whether it should be considering offering publicly funded weight-loss surgery.
A recommendation has been drafted by the board's community and public health and disability support advisory committee and will be on the next board agenda.
It is more than coincidental that last month's board meeting heard a plea from Whanganui MP Chester Borrows on behalf of one of his constituents.
Mr Borrows said 24-year-old Jasmine Sciascia had been told by doctors that unless she received gastric bypass surgery she would probably not live beyond 30. The MP asked the board to set policy so people could have an operation.
Tracey Schiebli, the board's general manager of planning and funding, said taxpayer funds for this type of surgery was very limited "and as a smaller DHB what we do may have implications for all DHBs".
Ms Schiebli said this surgery would impact on funding for other more common types of elective surgery at Wanganui Hospital.
At the moment access to bariatric surgery was almost exclusive to patients in the Auckland region and those outside that region have the option of having the surgery done privately.
She said there were questions about providing ongoing post-operative support and funding concerns because of the "soaring demand" due to increasing obesity.
Ms Schiebli said funding within existing elective surgery budgets was difficult because most DHBs "are already struggling to meet the need for the range of surgical interventions which have been historically publicly funded".
Mr Borrows told the Chronicle that despite the board worrying about the pressure on its budget, bariatric surgery fell within that realm "so they're funded for it".
He said while Ms Sciascia's case was at the extreme end, he said there would definitely be other people in the region who were in need of life-saving surgery.
"I've got a real objection to bariatric surgery being withheld from someone who needs it because it's thought to be something cosmetic. Bariatric surgery should be available to everyone who is morbidly obese," he said.
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Our $70m obesity dilemma
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