NHS staff are being left to ‘pick up the pieces’ of a surgical tourism boom, with patients returning to this country needing help due to complications, doctors claim.
The British Medical Association said more people in Britain are dying or needing emergency care after going abroad for cheap obesity surgery.
The crisis is causing delays in routine care, including hip and knee replacements.
About 5,000 people travel abroad each year for obesity surgery, where the procedures can be significantly cheaper.
About 5,000 people travel abroad each year for obesity surgery, where the procedures can be significantly cheaper (stock image)
The British Medical Association said more people in Britain are dying or needing emergency care after going abroad for cheap obesity surgery (stock image)
Doctors said the internet has made it easier than ever for people to arrange operations abroad, while social media is increasing demand for cosmetic surgery.
Professor David Strain, of the BMA’s scientific council, said: ‘You can get infections and the problem is that people are coming back and asking the NHS to pick up the pieces of the procedures that have been carried out to less of the standards that we have in Britain. handle Britain. .’
The BMA’s annual meeting in Belfast backed a motion ‘raising concerns’ about surgical tourism and agreed there is a need for more UK-based weight management services, partly funded by an increase in the sugar tax on fizzy drinks drinks.