New patients at the city's only obesity research clinic could face a wait of up to two years for treatment as the demand for surgery from morbidly obese people grows.
The clinic, at the Prince of Wales Hospital, is having to turn away obese patients seeking gastric bypasses and other types of surgery.
'We don't want to see too many private patients [for our research]; we don't have the time, manpower or resources to treat everyone,' said the clinic's Wilfred Mui Lik-man.
He hopes more doctors can be trained to treat morbidly obese patients and that more private hospitals would offer the service.
The clinic, funded by research grants from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was set up in 2001 and initially operated on about two patients a year. Last year it carried out about 80 surgeries and 100 non-surgical intragastric balloon treatments, in which a balloon is placed into the stomach via the throat.
Private patients pay at least HK$100,000, but some can go through the public health system. However, it now takes several months for them to be seen by Dr Mui and in future they could wait up to two years for surgery, he said.
