Leading doctors have warned that the NHS is being left to “pick up the pieces” as a result of complications linked to a rise in people traveling abroad for surgery. Several horror stories have emerged from complications abroad after surgeries including hair implants and weight loss. There are also increasing concerns about patients buying weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, online, without proper “wraparound” care, and fears people of a normal weight are using the prescription-only medicines.
David Strain, a professor of cardiometabolic health, said that a rising number of people are travelling abroad for procedures including weight loss surgery and hair implants, but may not be getting care of the same standard that they would expect in the UK. Prof Strain, chairman of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) Board of Science, said medics in the UK are increasingly seeing patients with complications from surgeries, including infections. Foreign Office travel advice says that the standard of medical facilities and available treatments can “vary widely globally” and highlights how six British nationals died in Turkey in 2023 after medical procedures.
Medics at the BMA’s national annual meeting in Belfast heard that there has been a “boom” in surgical tourism, which is “leading to a rise in serious post-surgery complications and deaths”. Delegates passed a motion expressing concern about the patients who need emergency surgery when they return .
