Ministry of Health REsponse

Indirectly from Minister Abbott Dear Ms. Chilman: Thank you for your email of November 10, 2006, regarding your wait for bariatric surgery. I can assure you that the Ministry of Health acknowledges morbid obesity as a serious health issue. Minister Abbott has asked me to respond to you directly. I can empathize with your frustration with the wait time for your surgery, but there are two challenges that people waiting for this surgery are facing right now. First is the volume of surgeries now being done in this province. Advances in technology now make surgery an option for many patients who previously would not have been candidates for surgery. As a result, the demand for all surgical procedures, from hip and knee replacements to cataract surgery, continues to grow at a rate much faster than the growth in the population of the province. Second, with bariatric surgery, as you may know, the surgical procedure is only one part of a comprehensive process involving a wide range of professional services - a fact that contributes to the wait time for this procedure. Surgical intervention is considered a last resort for people who have previously tried other forms of medical weight loss management including diet modification, increased physical activity, behavioural modification or medications. Care involves comprehensive pre-surgery work that can take up to a year to complete, and extensive post-surgery follow up, possibly life-long. Facilities undertaking this type of surgery require not only a skilled medical/surgical team committed to this extensive pre and post operative involvement, but specialized equipment to properly care for patients. A further complication is that bariatric surgery is considered to be high risk due to the additional health problems that often accompany morbid obesity. Surgical priority is determined by a patient's medical status as assessed by the surgeon and other physicians involved. For all non-emergency surgery, surgeons have their own waitlists, and some are longer than others. Specialists and facilities prioritize patient appointments based on the relative urgency of the requests received and waiting times for specialists vary considerably between physicians. While I appreciate your frustration with your present situation, it is important to recognize that the Ministry cannot make operational decisions for hospitals such as the assignment of operating room time. This is a matter between a hospital and the physicians working there. Please keep in mind, there are only a small number of physicians in British Columbia who perform bariatric surgery for obesity; therefore, patients may have longer wait times in obtaining this surgery. As Ms. Janet Davidson, Chief Operating Officer, noted in her response to you, the Ministry is actively working with the health authorities and service providers to address waitlists for this and other surgical procedures. I appreciate you taking the time to write to the Ministry about this issue. Sincerely, Rebecca Harvey Executive Director

Hi Elaine, Thanks for posting their response. What a bunch of hog wash! You can really tell from this letter how they really feel about the weight loss surgery in general. She did not mention the fact that there is only one doctor doing the surgery and yes they are responsible for approving others to go ahead and do the WLS too so what is she talking about. They are directly the reason why Dr. M and others before him have been told NO!!! I hope you don't mind I posted this response on Dr. Amson's support forum. The more people *****ad it the better for all of us. Take care and thanks for sharing this letter with us. It really puts things into perspective and how they really feel unfortunately, especially where she says they have so many complications from being morbidly obsese.......hello yes, that's why we need this procedure. It sounds like they are afraid of allowing this surgery to proceed with others. How frustrating and sad!! Sim

No Sim I don't mind you posting it on the other website. When I read the email I felt like they were not talking about me although it was a personal letter to me it didn't seem that way (does that make sense). I am peed off at the whole lot of them. Elaine