The Portuguese Society for the Study of Obesity (SPEO) warns of the risks faced by patients when they go abroad to undergo bariatric surgery because it is cheaper and return to Portugal without the necessary post-operative follow-up.
SPEO President José Silva Nunez told Lusa that there are people in Portugal who are recruiting patients to travel to Istanbul, Turkey, for surgery for severe obesity, taking care of all the logistics, namely travel, accommodation and surgery.
“I mention Turkey because at the moment there is a group of people who are recruiting patients in Portugal awaiting surgery and who are offering them much lower prices than if they went to the private sector,” said an endocrinologist who spoke to Lusa. agency in connection with World Obesity Day, which is observed on March 4.
According to the expert, this solution is being accessed by people who have “economic limitations” and can only pay a third of the amount, even putting their lives at risk.
“I believe that these people go there for consultation with a surgeon, a nutritionist, a doctor, but then they go back to Portugal and then whatever God wants,” he said, noting that he has already followed up on serious situations.
According to the director of the department of endocrinology at the Curry Cabral hospital in Lisbon, these patients must be followed up by a multidisciplinary team for at least three years after surgery.
“Monitoring is necessary, especially in the postoperative period and in the coming months, as vitamin and mineral deficiencies may occur,” warned a specialist who is part of a multidisciplinary obesity surgery team.
Silva Nunez said he is setting an example for Istanbul because it has invested a lot in health tourism in recent years, not only in obesity surgery but also in hair transplants, dental implants, and corrective nose surgery.
“Essentially, it is almost like a medical supermarket with various surgical solutions,” he commented.
But the most serious case was that of a patient who had surgery in Brazil: “Because we have a very large Brazilian community, some obese patients decide to go for surgery in their home country and then return and not have follow-up.” as would be expected, since they are several thousand kilometers from where they were invaded.”
According to Silva Nunez, this patient developed an “extremely serious, irreversible clinical situation with significant neurological consequences” and became permanently disabled.
He noted that the NHS has a responsibility to follow up with these patients after the intervention, but said “they will not get ahead of others who are waiting”.
“That is, they will wait for the first consultation and during this period, which is the most critical, they will have absolutely no medical support: neither dietary, nor psychological, nor surgical,” he warned.
The President of SPEO left a recommendation regarding health tourism: “If people choose this solution, there must be provisions so that after the operation they are given the support needed in a post-operative situation of this kind, which can have extremely harmful consequences that can even be life-threatening.”
According to preliminary data provided to the Lusa agency by the General Directorate of the Health System (DHS), in 2023, 1,965 obese people were operated on at the SNS, which is 12 less than in 2022 and 391 more than in 2021.
In Portugal, 67.6% of the population is overweight or obese, with a prevalence of obesity of 28.7%, corresponding to more than two million adults.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.