No weight-loss surgeon in Sask. as waiting list hits 300

Last Updated: Friday, December 28, 2007 | 12:14 PM ET

CBC News

About 300 people are waiting for weight-loss surgery in Saskatchewan because the only doctor who was performing the procedure has retired in Saskatoon, and there are no plans to replace him.

The Saskatoon Health Region didn't recruit anyone to replace the surgeon because the provincial health ministry is considering a proposal for a new weight-loss clinic in Regina.

That doesn't offer much hope for Regina resident Joel Sopp.

"At 430 pounds [195 kilograms], no matter what I look like when I carry it, that number scares the crap out of a lot of doctors," he said Thursday.

Sopp was scheduled for surgery in January, but it was cancelled. Now he doesn't know when, if ever, he can get an operation.

"I'm mad. I'm frustrated. I'm scared. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

Sopp said he knows of some patients who have left Canada to get the procedure. But, he said, that's not cheap.

"I've even explored, I think it's called the medi-card, where you basically borrow money to get your surgery done at like 28 per cent interest. If that's what I have to do, then that's what I have to do," he said.

The Saskatchewan Health ministry says it is still reviewing the proposal for a weight-loss centre in Regina, and that review should be done in February.

A spokeswoman for the health department, Deb Jordan, said Thursday the waiting-list problem isn't confined to Saskatchewan.

"The reason why I'd think 20 per cent of the patients on the wait list here are from outside the province is indicative of long waits for this procedure in other provinces as well," she said.

Weight loss surgery can involve a variety of operations, such as gastric bypass, gastric banding, and something known as a duodenal switch procedure.