Southern District Health Board says it will not be taking up funding available for extra gastric bypass operations this year because it does not have the capacity.
Last year, the Government announced funding for up to 300 weight-loss operations over four years, and Southern's share of the $2 million provided this year would have paid for five extra operations.
Southern is the only board providing this service in the South Island and carries out between 12 and 15 procedures a year.
The Ministry of Health's electives manager, Clare Perry, said that to the end of March, across the country, 62 more operations had been carried out.
Funding was allocated under the population-based formula and it was expected the average annual increase would be 75 additional operations.
The ministry believed good progress was being made towards increasing the amount of bariatric surgery, but most of the extra operations would be in the years ahead. About 250 operations are carried out each year now.
It was clear most of the increased surgery would follow the development of regional service plans and patient selection criteria, both of which were expected by the middle of the year.
Southern already has an assessment questionnaire for referring doctors to complete. Patients with unstable psychiatric disease, active cancer or limited life expectancy due to conditions other than obesity would be among people excluded.
