Ontario’s expansion of bariatric surgeries, also known as gastric bypass, is saving the province tens of millions of taxpayer dollars each year while providing care closer to home for patients.

As part of Ontario’s Diabetes strategy to prevent, manage, and treat diabetes, the province created a bariatric treatment network which features four Centres of Excellence and four Regional Assessment and Treatment Centres. This expansion has dramatically reduced the need to send Ontarians out-of-country for surgery – saving about $10,000 for every bariatric procedure done here at home.

By eliminating the need for patients to go out-of-country, Ontario will save an estimated $45 million in 2010/11 and an estimated $21 million at minimum in 2011/12. These savings will be achieved while still expanding the number of bariatric surgeries performed, growing by 750 per cent — from 245 in 2007/08 to an estimated 2,085 in 2011/2012.

As part of the Open Ontario Plan, the province is committed to eliminating waste and finding savings that can be used in our schools and for the health care system on which Ontario families rely. The government is also reducing the deficit with a plan in place to eliminate it completely by 2018.