An Egyptian woman, believed to be the world’s heaviest at 500kg (1,102lb), has undergone weight reduction surgery.
A spokesperson at Mumbai’s Saifee Hospital said Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, 36, had lost 100kg since arriving in India in January. “We are trying to get her fit enough to fly back to Egypt as soon as possible,” the hospital said in a statement. Her family said she had not left her house for 25 years until she came to Mumbai on a chartered plane.
The spokesperson told the BBC that she was likely to lose more weight in the coming months. The surgery was performed by a team of doctors led by bariatric surgeon, Dr Muffazal Lakdawala. Bariatric surgery, also known as weight loss surgery, is used as a last resort to treat people who are dangerously obese (having a body mass index of 40 or above or 35 plus other obesity-related health conditions).
Ms Abd El Aty’s family says she weighed 5kg (11lb) at birth and was diagnosed with elephantiasis, a condition in which body parts swell due to a parasitic infection. By the time she was 11, her weight had risen sharply and she suffered a stroke which left her bedridden. She is cared for by her mother and sister. However, Dr Lakdawala told the BBC in December that he believed Ms Abd El Aty did not have elephantiasis but suffered from obesity-related lymphoedema which causes gigantic swelling of the legs.
