Covid fears prompting more obese people to get stomach reduction surgeries

Concern over the coronavirus's severe consequences for people with obesity resulted in more patients with weight problems seeking medical help. The number of people requesting gastric bypass surgery increased significantly during the pandemic, De Telegraaf reported.

"The number of registrations for a gastric bypass with us increased from 7,000 to 8,050 since September 2020," Kobus Dijkhorst, the Dutch Obesity Clinic director, said to the newspaper. The Clinic works with a large number of hospitals. The OLVG in Amsterdam and the Spaarne Gasthuis in Hoofddorp also noticed an increase in requests for a gastric bypass.

"Coronavirus is not the only motivation for people to undergo gastric reduction surgery, but I see that it is the last push for patients who have been struggling with their weight and annoying health ailments for a long time," surgeon Sjoerd Bruin of the Hoofddorp hospital said to the newspaper.

The coronavirus pandemic put immense pressure on the Dutch healthcare system, with regular care being scaled-down and postponed multiple times. As a result, there are long waiting lists for most plannable surgeries, including gastric bypass surgery.