John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Dr. Orsmond, and there is a strong parallel here with smoking. We would like people not to smoke and as a result of their not smoking we would have fewer cases of lung cancer. However, that would not mean we did not need to provide treatment for people with lung cancer.

The reality is that some really established leaders in the fields of diabetology and metabolic medicine say that, for some patients, bariatric surgery is needed. The reason we have a long waiting list for it is not that the demand is so great, although it is growing, but that we have systematically under provided for it in the way we have systematically under provided for most tertiary care. That is the reality.