An article published in the Sun newspaper has revealed that obese people hoping for surgery are being turned away and urged to put on more weight.
In the tabloid’s ever-tasteful language ‘Soaring demand in one of Britain’s lardiest cities means only super-fatties can be treated’.
It is claimed that NHS health chiefs are allegedly being forced to ignore the government’s guidelines which indicate that people with a body mass index of over 40 should be given the operation. Now doctors are urging patients to put on enough weight that they reach a BMI of over 60.
Chairman of the Obesity Forum, Dr Colin Waine said in the Sun: “If you have a BMI of over 40 you’ve got one foot in the grave.”
But the NHS insists they simply do not have enough surgeons to carry out the £7,000 operation, due to a surprisingly high-demand.
This is clearly a bit of a conundrum. It is of course outrageous that our country’s national health service is urging already obese people to put more weight on, but on the other hand if there is a serious lack of surgeons available to perform the operation what can they do?
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Posted in Latest Media Training News | 1 Comment »
April 18th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
As easy as riding a bike….
What I would do to ease this issue, and stop our proud land sinking to the sea bed under increasing pressure, is install an exercise bike in the home of every obese individual in the UK.
This would be linked to the national grid, and the obese of the country would be incentivised to cycle via a revolutionary ‘pedal-credits’ system simultaneously curing the obesity epidemic, and reducing our need for natural fuel consumption thus placing Grand Bretagne at the very forefront of environmental awareness, and re-usable energy resources.
Step two of the innovative scheme would involve a similar ‘pedal-credit’ basis of apportioning benefit to those able to take to the saddle, thereby increasing motivation to achieve the maximum benefit as o miles = o £pounds.
This would encourage exercise across the nation, providing power, and reducing NHS health costs as the nations couch potatoes become fitter and fitter.
A further added benefit is that Britain would then become leaders on the Tour de France, the cycling at the Olympics, and have the world’s most efficient network of paper boys due to their expertise in the techniques of income generation via this fantastic be-spoke (ahem) initiative.