A new report from a federal standing committee on health and ageing has called on governments to provide the operation free to the morbidly obese in public hospitals.

Gastric banding, also known as bariatric or lap band surgery, is already on the publicly subsidised Medicare scheme. But the rebate provided covers only a fraction of the surgeon's fee, leaving uninsured patients in most states to pay $15,000 or more for hospital accommodation, theatre and anaesthetist services.

Rick Kausman, who runs obesity training programs for health professionals and treats patients for the condition, said increasing access to gastric banding was potentially dangerous.

"The last thing we want to do be doing is giving more people the opportunity to get lap banding when we haven't given them an opportunity to find out why they have got above their healthy weight in the first place," he said.

Dr Kausman said he had patients who had had the surgery only to go on binge eating and vomiting up meals because their eating disorder had gone untreated.

Obesity Policy Coalition senior policy adviser Jane Martin said the committee had failed to make the hard decisions needed on the real drivers of obesity, such as inappropriate food marketing and labelling.

Katherine Samaras, associate professor at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, agreed that stopping people becoming overweight in the first place was critical, but said those who were already obese should not be denied treatment. Professor Samaras said bariatric surgery was a legitimate option for people who had made concerted attempts to lose weight through lifestyle improvements.

Patients scored better on mortality, cancer, diabetes and heart disease for a decade after their surgery, she said.

Donna Morgan, who underwent gastric banding six months ago, believes it saved her life. Once weighing in at 125kg, the 45-year-old mother of three was plagued with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes, all as a result of her obesity. "I was also on the verge of liver disease," Ms Morgan told The Australian yesterday. "It's basically a life-saving operation by the time it gets to the stage I was at."

Ms Morgan said the surgery's impact on her life was immediate, with her weight beginning to fall overnight. She has lost 30kg and, more importantly, her diabetes has gone into remission.

Ms Morgan had to use her superannuation to pay for the operation. But "it was worth every penny," she said.