Obese Quebeckers Demand Greater Access to Bariatric Surgery
The opposition ADQ is taking up the cause of 300-thousand morbidly obese Quebeckers.
ADQ health-critic Eric Caire tabled their 600-name petition in the National Assembly today; demanding that more bariatric surgeries be performed.
According to the World Health Organization 6-thousand of the operations should be done in Quebec every year. Currently only 1-thousand of the operations are done.
Jennifer Schultz, the co-founder of the Quebec Coalition Against Morbid Obesity tells CJAD news that when they met with officials from the Health Ministry, they were offered 1,500 surgeries over 5 years, and were told, it's not a "sexy" issue.
It's estimated that bariatric surgeries (also known as gastric bypasses) pay for themselves within 3.5 years as the patients are no longer at risk for other health-problems like diabetes, heart-problems, joint-problems and sleep apnea among others.
5-percent of Quebeckers are morbidly obese; that's one person in 25.
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