A call has been made to health insurance providers to offer gastric banding and gastric bypass operations to critically obese patients.

Spire Healthcare, a private hospital group, made the appeal just as the Department of Health announced its plan to tackle the problem of obesity through a national movement.

In a letter written to health insurers the group’s clinical services director, Dr Jean-Jacques de Gorter urged them to cover weight loss surgery on their private medical insurance policies.

The private healthcare industry, he lamented, is missing an opportunity to make a difference by extending PMI cover to include the funding of weight loss surgery.

He added that such decision will have the benefits of extending the value of PMI to insured patients and helping to manage the risk of excessive costs of health due to the consequences of obesity.

The surgery, said Spire Healthcare, could also result in physical and mental health gains, solve the problem of type 2 diabetes and reduce the risk of related conditions like stroke, cardiovascular disease and cancer.