Those seeking cheap overseas weight loss procedures should be aware of the potential life-altering consequences, according to a leading surgeon.

Auralia consultant surgeon Dr John Loy told The Pat Kenny Show that patients can be left traumatised as a result of botched bariatric surgeries.

“One patient recently came back to me in January, and she'd been out for a sleeve in Turkey,” he said.

“She ended up bleeding from her keyhole wound in the middle of the night, and the surgeon turned up with an iPhone torch and pulled a needle and thread out of his pocket to sew up her wounds.

“Not only that, but he had stapled off the top of the stomach, so when she came back to me and came to my clinic, she couldn't eat, she couldn't drink – she was traumatised.

"We had to go through counselling, we had to feed her with a tube and then I was able to operate on her to perform a bypass operation to allow her to eat properly again.”

Medical Tubes Close up shot along with other medical equipments. Image: Ramalekshmi / Alamy. 20 January 2012

Dr Loy said he also treated a patient who visited a pop-up clinic that had since vanished, leaving no details of the operation.

In Ireland, patients face long waiting lists and prices of up to €10,000 for bariatric weight loss surgeries.

Going abroad, however, can reduce the price to under €5,000 euro.

According to Dr Loy, these cheaper prices often come at the cost of a person’s safety.

"It's cheap for a reason,” he said.

“It's cheap because of the equipment that they use – we only use the best of the best staplers, the top laparoscopic instruments, we have properly trained surgeons with proper follow-up, etcetera.

“That's why it is more expensive in the West, in the UK and in Ireland.”

Below European averages

Currently, St Vincent’s Hospital contains the only bariatric centre in Ireland, with the Irish Government having authorised for three more to be built across the country.

According to Dr Loy, this would see around 1,500 surgeries performed in a year, which would still leave us “way below” European averages.

Dr Loy said weight loss drugs could be used as an alternative treatment in the future.

“The results are impressive, because as a surgeon, I cannot operate on everybody who needs the operation,” he said.

“The drugs have some problems, however.

“One in three have significant gastrointestinal side effects – that's vomiting and nausea.

“One in three patients can't get a hold of them, so supply is an issue, side effects are an issue – but there are better drugs coming on the market in the next five to 10 years.”

Dr Loy said these drugs could limit the number of surgeries that would be needed.