The Ottawa Hospital will be providing around 450 gastric bypass surgeries a year by 2012 as a result of increased investment from the province.
As part of Ontario’s diabetes strategy, the province is investing $75 million over the next three years to increase bariatric surgery capacity in the province by 500 per cent — from 244 a year to 1,470.
As part of this expansion, the Ottawa Hospital will become a bariatric centre of excellence, building on the hospital’s historical interest in bariatrics and the existing interdisciplinary weight management program.
“For those who have been fighting severe obesity for years, we’re increasing the availability of bariatric surgery at the Ottawa Hospital so that more people can get this treatment here in Ontario,” said Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi.
The high prevalence of overweight and obese people is contributing to a dramatic rise in illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension and some cancers.
“As a medical intervention of last resort, bariatric surgery can be vitally important to certain patients who struggle with obesity,” Champlain Local Health Integration Network CEO Dr. Robert Cushman said.
