High rate of obesity in children worries surgeon
July 18, 2012 by Agency Reporter 1 Comment

A leading surgeon operating on obese patients says he has seen young people so overweight during his career that they have not left home in eight years.

Jonathan Barry’s team at Morriston Hospital in Swansea has had 1,000 referrals in 18 months.

Dealing with obesity is costing the NHS in Wales an estimated £73m a year.

Plaid Cymru AM Lindsay Whittle claimed some parents were “killing their own children with kindness” by not tackling their intake of food.

Up to 90 morbidly obese patients a year undergo operations at the Welsh Institute of Metabolic and Obesity Surgery at Morriston to limit the capacity of their stomachs, or receive other treatment to reduce the number of calories they absorb.

Consultant bariatric surgeon Jonathan Barry told BBC Wales’ Sunday Politics programme: “A lot of them are cured of their diabetes and obviously there’s a cost benefit to that and after two-and-a-half years there’s a significant saving.

“We know that this is an expensive disease that isn’t going away.”

He added: “These people do have to be brave just to go outside the front door. I think a lot of my patients will tell me they feel quite embarrassed going anywhere and this just reinforces the problem.”

Source: bbchealthnews