MD urges funding for obesity clinic
By Joanna Frketich
The Hamilton Spectator(Jul 15, 2006)
Canada's top obesity doctor says charging patients for care is like asking someone having a heart attack to pay upfront before being saved.
Dr. Arya Sharma is frustrated he can't raise the $7 million he needs -- a paltry sum in today's high-tech, health-care system -- from the province or community donors to provide free and timely treatment to Hamiltonians who are morbidly obese.
"I'm saying, 'If you can't afford it, then we can't help you,' and that's the majority of patients," he said.
"These people are seriously sick. If they don't get treatment, they have a life crippling disease and they're going to die. What did these people do to not deserve treatment?"
Obesity, which is passing smoking as the leading cause of preventable death, has been touted as a high priority for the top levels of government.
But Sharma says the focus is only on prevention, with little to no help for nearly a quarter of the population said to be obese.
"There's a stigma," said Sharma. "There's discrimination. The bias is that obesity is not a disease, it's a lifestyle thing and it doesn't deserve medical treatment. That's clearly not true."
As a result, he had to tell at least 300 people at a Hamilton General Hospital meeting this week that local hospitals couldn't help them unless they pay thousands of dollars and wait months, if not years, for care.
He sent a proposal to the Ministry of Health over six months ago asking for $7 million to create a proper bariatric (obesity treatment) clinic with health-care professionals providing diets, exercise, medication, group therapy and surgery. So far -- no response.
The ministry says it's working on a plan, but provided no details or timeline.
"It's being investigated," said spokesman John Letherby. "But I don't have anything in terms of how far along that may be."
Hamilton Mountain MPP and cabinet minister Marie Bountrogianni couldn't even guarantee Hamilton will get one of Ontario's new bariatric centres planned, despite the city being named federally as Canada's leader in the fight against fat.
McMaster University was chosen this year as headquarters for the Canadian Obesity Network headed by Sharma.
Bountrogianni admits there "aren't enough" services.
"We've been working on this for a while. The minister is very committed on this issue."
Hamilton East MPP Andrea Horwath says if fighting obesity is so important to the government, it should provide the treatment now for free.
"These people have a health issue that cannot be ignored," she said. "For them to have to pay out of pocket violates every principle we have around a universal and accessible health-care system."
Hamilton's current bariatric centre is only open two half days a week, due to not enough staff or space for longer hours, despite a patient load of 200 and a waiting list of 500 people.
That means waits of between one and three years long.
While anyone with a body mass index of 30-plus is obese, the centre only has resources to help those at 35 or more.
Patients must pay $2,700 upfront for a year-long program to lose weight. The money is for a special liquid diet and the time of a nurse, nutritionist, social worker and exercise specialist. On top, they pay $150 a month indefinitely for medications. Once the person loses the weight, a maintenance program costs extra.
Surgery is covered by OHIP, but has to be done in the United States because hospitals don't have enough staff or money to perform the operation.
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