Should kids have weight loss surgery? This doctor thinks so

An obesity surgeon has called for radical weight loss surgery to be performed on kids, to save them from years of torment and bad health. 

Dr George Hopkins believes gastric sleeve surgery should be performed on morbidly obese children, but it currently isn't permitted due to hospital restrictions. 

"Pre-teens are almost being left out of the conversation because the health system hasn't caught up with this problem yet," Dr Hopkins tells A Current Affair. 

Currently one in three Australians are deemed obese. Dr Hopkins has performed gastric sleeve surgery on kids as young as 12, but says it's now even younger children and their parents who are crying out for help. 

"I’ve seen eight-year-olds going over 120 kilograms. These kids are sick," he says. 

Ashlee Young tipped the scales at 105 kilos at the age of just 14. 

"I don't think I was too young, but any younger I think would be. Because you gain the weight back and then the next option is a bariatric bypass, and you don't want to have that at 12 and need the next one by 19," she says.

The College of Physicians recently declared obesity as a chronic disease. The Australian Medical Association is yet to follow suit. President Dr Tony Bartone says it's a complex issue that shouldn't always rely on surgery.

"We need to be very cautious when we are looking at teenagers and young children, and we need to understand the evidence and the research before we start promoting that as a widespread solution to the problem," Dr Bartone explains.

Dr Hopkins says he'll keep pushing for hospitals and administrators to come on board, for the sake of desperate parents who have run out of options.

"I just can't believe we can have a very reasonable treatment option that we know works and say, 'Well, that's not for you, based on your age," he says.