Turia chooses surgery and politics

Tariana Turia. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia will have a gastric bypass operation in November to get rid of the type II diabetes that has bedevilled her health for the past two years.

Mrs Turia told the Herald she decided to have the operation - commonly known as stomach stapling - as part of her decision to stay on as an MP rather than retire in 2011.

Mrs Turia has had type II diabetes for two years and also has asthma, frequently suffering from chest infections.

She will have the operation done privately, probably in late November so she is fully recovered in time for Parliament next year.

Because a gastric bypass requires open surgery there are risks involved. However, she believes the risks of not having it outweigh those.

Her surgeon advised her the operation would almost immediately get rid of the diabetes and high blood pressure. It could also help with her asthma.

"Those are very serious considerations for me and the only reasons I am considering the operation. I don't want to end up the way I've seen some relatives of mine end up, on dialysis and getting amputations. That's not me."

Although she had already adjusted her diet to try to cope with the diabetes, the operation will involve major lifestyle changes. "I can't say I don't like my food because I do. But some say after the operation people find they don't want the fatty, creamy food any more. It's going to be interesting."

Asked if she was looking forward to cosmetic effects of the weight loss, she said others who had it, such as Donna Awatere Huata, now looked "stunning".

"Being a hot chick might come out of it. But at 65 I think I've left it a bit late."

She would cover the costs - estimated at up to $25,000 - herself "and so I should".

However, she said she believed more people who needed the operation should be able to have it through the public system, because it would save health dollars in the longer term.

At the Maori Party's annual hui at the weekend, Mrs Turia confirmed she would stand again in 2011, to the jubilation of party members. She said her family had moved to Wellington since she became a minister and she had wanted to see how they settled in before fully committing herself to staying on. The children were happy and she was reluctant to leave before seeing the social policies she was working on put in place.

The party's president, Whatarangi Winiata, agreed to stay on at the annual general meeting. He had intended to resign, but changed his mind after pleas from party MPs and delegates who said the party needed to train up a replacement properly.