Tackling obesity is Queensland's major health issue

Queensland Doctors want the State’s obesity crisis declared a State of Emergency.

Releasing AMA (Australian Medical Association) Queensland’s 2015 Election Wish List, President Dr Shaun Rudd said eight out of 10 Queenslanders will be too fat for their own good within just five years.

Explained that the 'State emergency' of obesity was costing the Queensland more than $11.6 billion every year, Dr Rudd stated "this is disastrous for the health system – like a slow moving flood or smouldering bushfire

“It’s crunch time for the next Queensland Government. We have to stem the obesity tide now, before it swamps our hospitals.

“Those three million overweight and obese people, the equivalent of south-east Queensland’s entire population, pose an unprecedented challenge to the entire health system.

"We now have 10% more fat people in Queensland than the Australian average, we have 2.5 million fat people or overweight (people) and 1.5 million of those are obese that's another fancy way of saying they are very, very fat.

"What was used to be called the smart state we now call ourselves the fat state."

AMA Queensland’s election platform focuses on four main areas: obesity, alcohol abuse, end-of-life care, and hospital technology.

Key recommendations include banning fast-food outlets from opening with 1 kilometre of new schools and subsidising fruit and vegetables for `at-risk’ communities

Dr Rudd said all politicians have a vested interest in putting health first, calling for more education to lower the alarming rates of obesity.

He added "recent polls show more than 80% of voters regard health as the major election issue2."

“Being too fat, drunk and violent puts an enormous burden on our communities and our health care system but it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Dr Rudd has urged all sides of politics to back the AMA Queensland calls.

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