Treatment of morbid obesity cost more than €1.8 million last year

Ireland has one of the highest levels of obesity in Europe, according to the Health Service Executive, with 60% of adults and one in five children or young people overweight or obese.

Gastric bypasses and other surgeries carried out in public hospitals for the treatment of morbid obesity cost more than €1.8 million last year, as 171 patients went under the knife to surgically limit their food intake.

The figures represent a 77% increase in the cost of such procedures in just five years, while the number of people receiving surgical treatment for obesity in public hospitals has risen by 58% in the same period.