NSW builds ambulances for obese patients
The NSW Government has spent almost $1 million building six heavy duty ambulances for the state’s growing number of seriously obese people.
The Health Minister, Reba Meagher, said the government had ordered the mega-lift ambulances – which cost $150,000 each – as latest figures reveal the proportion of the population that is obese is increasing at a faster rate than the proportion who is overweight.
The ambulances are designed for people who weigh at least 180 kilograms or who have a girth too large for a normal ambulance stretcher.
Latest research from Access Economics estimated the economic cost of obesity to the Australian health system was about $873 million a year. NSW Health data released last month showed there were seven urban and 12 rural areas where more than half of people over 16 were fat.
