The NHS is providing weight loss operations.
Prospective patients are going to be evaluated prior to being being offered surgery.
The NHS in Cornwall is providing keyhole weight loss surgery for the first time.
The service is going to enable patients who are severely obese and not able to lose weight to be referred for gastric band and stomach bypass surgery .
The procedures are going to be carried out at the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
In the past, patients had to travel to Taunton in Somerset for operations.
Ian Finlay, the bariatric unit’s leader, stated that he anticipated performing approximately 100 operations in the first 12 months.
Prospective patients will all be assessed at the hospital’s Weight Management Clinic before being referred for surgery.
They are going to have to fulfil rigorous criteria, and have an overall body mass index of 40 plus, or complicating health issues, like Type 2 diabetes .
Consultant surgeon Mr Finlay stated that this procedure is is not cosmetic surgery ; it is surgery which makes people fitter from a medical point of view. People lives could be at stake. This procedure eliminates mobility issues, the need for care and other possible problems in the future.
Type 2 diabetics are likely to find that their condition improves considerably or is cured by this operation, hence, preventing problems like heart disease later on in life.
This surgery seems like a life insurance in itself, eliminating lots of problems including heart disease.