The ACT government will invest an additional $34 million into elective surgeries with hopes of halving the wait list within a year, according to The Canberra Times.
The funding will include $250,000 for bariatric surgery, which will be the first stand-alone public funding of the procedure, used in the battle against obesity.
The $34 million is the second instalment of a commitment to increase the elective budget to $84 million and additional funds will allow an additional 500 operations in 2014-15 which it is hoped will reduce wait times.
There seems to be a big push on obesity programs and inclusion of bariatric surgery recently and a great deal of discussion around the cost to public health services. Whilst I agree that the long term cost of someone obese to the public health system is probably far greater without surgery, I’m not entirely sure how making this surgery available on the public purse sits.
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