She is saved by well-trained doctors and nurses. She is only in her forties.

Australia has a world-class health system, with amazing hospital technologies. But it isn't enough to be good at treating heart attacks. Instead, we as a society should be trying to stop them from happening in the first place. 

Heart attacks, cancer, diabetes and strokes have two things in common: first, they kill people and second, obesity is a significant risk factor. In what should be a national emergency, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates that almost two thirds of Australian adults are obese or overweight, and a quarter of children. When you work in a hospital, the real impact of the obesity epidemic hits hard — with emergency departments, wards and intensive care units filled with overweight patients.

In 21st-century Australia, it's hard to be healthy. It's hard to exercise, to go for a walk, to ride your bike to work. It's hard (and expensive) to cook your own healthy food. And it's so hard to fight against the constant onslaught of fast-food advertising. 

What are the answers? There are no easy ones. It took 30 years to fight against the tobacco giants and get smoking rates to where they are today, after the introduction of many, many anti-tobacco measures. It will probably take at least 30 years to fight against the (fast) food and beverage industry to begin reversing the obesity trend.

But we have to start somewhere. There is now a call for a higher tax on sugary drinks, such as soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and cordials. 

Such a tax would have enormous health benefits, with thousands of heart attacks, strokes, newly diagnosed diabetics and deaths avoided.

Yes, such a tax would probably be unpopular. And I'll admit it – such a tax isn't a silver bullet.

However, it would start make making healthy choices a little easier. 

We need to do something — now.

Tim Martin is a doctor studying a Master of Public Health.