Soaring obesity is costing NHS Tayside hundreds of thousands of pounds, it has emerged.
The health authority spent more than £1.25 million in the last three years carrying out bariatric surgery on ‘morbidly obese’ patients.
Such operations, including gastric bypasses and fitting gastric bands and sleeves, costs £6,879,487 and have rocketed by almost 25% nationally in the last five years.
In 2009-10, NHS Tayside did not offer such procedures but has carried out 97 in the last three years, at a cost of £1,229,826.
The cost is likely to spiral as more diseases are treated, according to Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum.
He said: “I am not surprised at the figures and am fearful that they will escalate dramatically in the years ahead.
“The shaming news is that the majority of these diseases are largely preventable.”
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: “Surgery should be a last option for people who are severely overweight, but sadly it is becoming the norm.
“We still have a major problem in promoting healthy eating in this country and ensuring people do enough exercise.”
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