Hospitals across Ireland are seeing a huge increase in the number of patients seeking treatment for complications after undergoing a highly popular weight loss surgery in Turkey.
The holiday destination has become popular in recent years for offering discounted cosmetic procedures which include everything from hair transplants to veneers and bariatric surgeries - all for a fraction of the price of doing it in Ireland.
According to officials at University Hospital Galway, there has been a hike in the number of people presenting to A&E after undergoing weight loss surgery, having developed 'life-threatening injuries' as a result.
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Irish doctors are now urging patients to avoid travelling to the country for weight-loss surgery and warn that significant numbers of people are running into serious complications as a result, according to the Irish Daily Mail.
Concerns are being raised by specialists over the level of care that these patients are receiving while in Turkey and more recently, the competence of the surgeons who are carrying out the procedures is being questioned.
They have urged people looking into the weight loss surgery to ‘hang on’ and get the treatment in Ireland if they can.
Experts highlighted alarming figures that showed the number of people reporting complications after having the surgery in Turkey has almost trebled in the last three years.
Bariatric Surgeon Professor, Helen Heneghan, said she is seeing around ‘two to three’ patients at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin every week with these issues.
She said that some people are coming to her clinic with life-threatening complications such as a leak in their gut from poor surgical work.
Professor Heneghan said: "Here in Vincent’s we are seeing significant volumes of people returning with problems.
"The number of people admitted has almost trebled over the Covid period compared to 2019 and before. We saw a lot of people travelling during the pandemic”.
Before Covid, Professor Heneghan was seeing around 37 to 40 people attend her clinic with complications, but this number has skyrocketed to 97 in 2021 and is continuing to rise.
The problem is also affecting hospitals in Galway, according to Heneghan.
She went on: "This problem is not exclusive to us at Vincent’s. It is happening in other gastro centres like James’, the Mater, and Galway”.
Professor Heneghan said on of the most ‘"frightening things" they’re seeing is that there is a sheer lack of preparation being given to patients before they have the surgery.
She urged people thinking of going abroad for surgery to weigh up their options and to try and get it done here.
Currently, there are around 3,000 patients on the waiting list for bariatric surgery in Ireland.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has urged anyone thinking of going abroad for surgery to do their due diligence and make sure they know all potential complications, medical and financial, before heading off.
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