KEY POINTS:
A surgeon is calling for increased public funding for obesity surgery after operating on New Zealand's heaviest teenager. Dr Rob Fris, of the New Zealand Obesity Surgery Centre, performed life-saving gastric lapband surgery on 15-year-old Haumoana Kopua, who weighed in at almost 200kg.
The operation involved fitting an inflatable silicone band around the upper stomach, reducing the size of the teenager's stomach and controlling the amount of food eaten.
The Gisborne teen needed the surgery after being classified morbidly obese. His struggle to deal with his condition is captured in a TV3 documentary to screen this week.
"Being this big, it's really taking its toll on me; getting ridiculed and teased," Kopua told the documentary-maker. "If there's anything social, I try anything to avoid it.
"I'm a bit embarrassed to do anything physical. I'd like to be half the size I am now so I can live a healthier life."
After Kopua failed to lose weight with the help of a dietitian, paediatrician, and psychologist, Fris offered to perform the $15,000 operation for nothing. "I've always had a soft spot for kids, and I could see he was going to develop big problems," he told the Herald on Sunday.
Kopua is believed to be the youngest lapband patient in the country, although Fris says he will soon operate on another 15-year-old boy who weighs around 140kg.
He operates on about 10 teenagers a year and says the number of cases is on the increase. "I have been really concerned about our teens. You're only going to be young once, and your teenage years should be good years."
But he also saw Kopua's operation as an opportunity to highlight the need for more public funding for obesity operations. "People still see it as being fat and lazy, or sloth and gluttony as the Bible says, but it's not.
"For some reason, something goes wrong in some people, and something breaks down in their metabolism. And it's irreversible."
Fris does about 300 private obesity-related operations a year. They greatly decrease the chance of patients developing associated illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, or needing hip and knee replacements.
According to the Ministry of Health, about 70 obesity-related operations were funded by the Government in the 2006-07 financial year, up from 10 a year a decade ago.
There are approximately 50,000 morbidly obese people in New Zealand.
Latest figures show obesity-related healthcare was estimated to cost more than $460 million in 2004.
The 200kg Kid screens on Thursday, 9.30pm on TV3.
