The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons says Government funding to boost the number of weight-loss surgeries for seriously obese people is a step in the right direction.
The Government is to pay $2 million a year for an extra 300 operations over the next four years.
New Zealand board chairman John Kyngdon says the funding is recognition that surgical treatment has a place in the management of the obesity epidemic in this country.
He says the use of surgery to treat obesity is administered sporadically between district health boards.
Mr Kyngdon says services, including counselling and follow-up, will be significant.
