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Experts call for regulation as medical tourism for weight loss surgery grows
The Guardian
|July 16, 2025
A booming trade in medical tourism for bariatric and weight loss surgery is placing patients at risk and needs urgent regulation, experts warn.
Despite the growing popularity of obesity injections, such as Mounjaro, the number of patients travelling to other countries for surgery is increasing. The wider medical tourism industry is set to be worth about £300bn annually, with anticipated year-on-year growth of 25%, so international regulation is urgently needed, according to a commentary in the journal BMJ Global Health.
Dr Jessica McGirr of the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin and Imperial College London, said: "We are seeing this ongoing increase, linked to the globalisation of healthcare and long wait lists."
This story is from the July 16, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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