OBESE Queenslanders should be able to have free lap band surgery for the overall good of the health system, the state’s doctors say.
THE Australian Medical Association Queensland will unveil a five-year health plan calling for greater public health support for gastric banding and other bariatric procedures.
AMA Queensland President Dr Shaun Rudd says free bariatric surgery for the morbidly obese and a push to increase vaccination rates formed part of the association’s plan. He says obesity creates huge, long-term costs for the health system and radical steps are needed to get Queenslanders to downsize. “Our Health Vision sets out new ways to tackle the state’s critical health care problems such as obesity, vaccination rates and health inequality,” Dr Rudd said. “Among our targets is for overweight Queenslanders to be five per cent slimmer by 2020.” Obesity surgeon Dr George Hopkins and patient Yvette Kerr, who lost more than 40kg after her surgery, will join Dr Rudd in Chermside on Friday morning to launch the plan.