Obese Cannot Immigrate

Saturday, November 17th 2007
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Cannot Move To New Zealand Until She Loses Some Weight

New Zealand asks a woman to lose weight or not immigrate.

Rowan Trezise, 33, has been left behind in England while her husband Richie, 35, has already made the move down under leaving her desperately trying to lose weight.

When the couple first tried to gain entry to the country they were told that they were both overweight and were a potential burden on the health care system.

Mr Trezise managed to shed two inches from his sizeable waistline to fulfil criteria set out as part of his visa application to work as a technician in the country.

His wife however has had no such luck and faces a desperate battle to shed the pounds before Christmas, at which point the couple say they will abandon their overseas plans.

New Zealand officials assess people’s weight using Body Mass Index which measures fat by comparing the height and weight of an individual.

There is legitimate debate here, but don’t be reactionary:

“My doctor laughed at me. He said he’d never seen anything more ridiculous in his whole life,” he said.

“He said not every overweight person is unhealthy or unfit.”

Not every overweight person is unhealthy or unfit? What type of comment is that. This is supposedly a national policy, applied towards a population. Across the whole obesity is a bigger contributor to morbidity than being poor, than having a cigarette everyday, than having 2+ drinks a day.

This is the biggest public health crisis facing the west. If there was ever a burden to try to save your health care system from its obesity. So maybe New Zealand shouldn’t screen it’s potential incoming ex-pats for lifestyle risks, but if it is going to the one that should be at the top of their list is obesity. Don’t tell me, “not every overweight person is unhealthy or unfit.” *rolls eyes*