NSW: NSW govt to finance surgery for morbidly obese people

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2008
NSW: NSW govt to finance surgery for morbidly obese people

The NSW government will pay for weight-loss surgery for morbidly obese people in a
radical attempt to slash the state's $7 billion burden of obesity.

Fairfax says more than 8-thousand lap-banding surgeries are conducted in Australia
each year .. but 95 per cent are done in private hospitals.

It says a policy to fund the operations in public hospitals will be unveiled tomorrow
as part of a strategy aimed at the over 50 per cent of adults who're overweight or obese.

The report says Health Minister REBA MEAGHER's also expected to announce the establishment
of one-stop clinics to tackle obesity-related conditions such as diabetes .. kidney failure
and heart disease.

There are over one million obese people in NSW .. and that number is predicted to grow
by about 15-thousand a year.

AAP RTV ao/fdf

KEYWORD: OBESITY (SYDNEY)

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