World’s heaviest woman from Egypt Eman Ahmed Abdelaty, who weighs 500 kgs, will undergo bariatric treatment lasting anywhere from two to four years at Saifee Hospital in south Mumbai.
Thirty-six-year-old Eman, who was flown to Mumbai by an Egypt Air fully-equipped cargo flight from Alexandria, was admitted to Saifee Hospital on Saturday after she was brought there in a specially modified truck from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
Eman’s air transportation from Alexandria to Mumbai was indeed a logistic feat of sorts, given that a team of doctors from the Saifee Hospital, had been camping in Egypt for 10 days to optimise the conditions for her travel.
On her arrival in Mumbai, she was lifted by a crane to a waiting specially modified truck stationed outside the airport and taken to the hospital.
Talking to media persons here on Monday, the country’s leading bariatric surgeon Dr Muffazal lakdawala of Saifee Hospital said that Eman would be treated free of cost at his hospital. “As this is a unique case, we have decided to treat it gratis till she becomes fully normal again,” Dr lakdawala said.
“Her transportation costs from Alexandria, Egypt, running into around eight million rupees, are being being covered through donations and crowd-funding as the family is unable to afford the same,” Saifee Hospital’s CEO Huzaifa Shehabi said.
Having subjected her to a series of tests during the last two days, Dr lakadawala and his team of doctors began to treat Eman from Monday, when she was put on a specially-prescribed diet.
“It is not that we would start the bariatric surgery tomorrow. There are lot of things involved. First, we will have deal with the fluids that are overloaded in the system,” said Dr lakdawala, who is also the Chairman of Institute of Minimal Access Surgical Sciences & Research Centre, said.
“Her Body Mass Index (BMI) is 252, whereas the normal person’s BMI is 24. You can imagine what we kind of a condition we are dealing with. It will take more than a month before we undertake her surgery. After the surgery, we are looking at the prospect of reducing her weight by 150 to 200 kgs in three to six months,” Dr lakadawala said.
“By then, we would be happy if she could to sit, eat on her own and use washroom,” he said.
For the next two years, the doctors attending on her will continue to monitor her weight and will conduct another surgery. “We plan to reduce another 150 to 200 kgs and bring her around 100 kgs or less. If that happens, we expect her to road to full recovery. At some stage later, she will be able to work,” Dr lakdawala said.
Eman had not stepped out of her home for the past 25 years, before she was flown to Mumbai for her bariatric treatment. Currently, she suffers from one too many medical ailments. Apart from being affected with from severe lymphedema and water retention, Eman has already suffered a stroke resulting in paralysis of her right arm and leg. She has type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism, has severe obstructive and restrictive lung disease, gout and is at a very high risk of pulmonary embolism. At the moment, she also cannot speak coherently.