An Indian surgeon has organized the travel of an Egyptian woman who weighs 500 kg, so that he can operate on her for free. The patient arrives this Saturday in Bombay.
An Egyptair plane has been specially equipped to accommodate this traveler like no other. Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, a 36-year-old Egyptian woman, is believed to be suffering from elephantiasis. A disease that made her infamous, making her the “fattest woman in the world”. The plane is taking her to Bombay today, before she is transferred to Mumbai, where an Indian surgeon has offered to operate on her for free, after hearing her story.
The doctor, Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, known to have operated on Indian government ministers, hopes to help the patient lose between 90 and 130 kg. “To prepare her for the flight, a team of doctors has been in Egypt for ten days to optimize her travel conditions,” he said in a statement.
Blocked for 25 years
The disease caused the young woman’s limbs to swell up to several times the normal size. A condition which, according to her family, would be responsible for her exceptional weight gain: she now weighs 500 kg, almost twice as much as the second most corpulent woman, an American of nearly 300 kg. A weight that has prevented him from leaving his house for 25 years.
She now has difficulty “speaking coherently”, “she suffers from type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and a high risk of pulmonary embolism”, explains the patient’s sister, Shaimaa Ahmad Abdelatti, on his Tumblr.
For all in India who would like to contribute to @SaveEmanCause we are now accepting contributions on https://t.co/l3pePOWM8T I am grateful pic.twitter.com/j8FxPnxDTk
— Dr. Muffi Lakdawala (@DrMuffi) January 19, 2017
Indian Foreign Minister mobilized
Dr. Lakdawala is monitoring the young woman’s state of health, and fought to obtain a visa for her, which was initially refused. To validate the request, she had to go to the Indian Embassy in Cairo to register her fingerprints. An impossible move.
Last December, the surgeon then asked the Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, to unblock the situation, in particular via Twitter, asking her “to help him obtain a medical visa, refused by the normal procedure”.
Ma’am , Eman Ahmed (Egypt) 500kgs requested me 2 save her pls help me get her a medical visa as refused thru normal process @SushmaSwaraj pic.twitter.com/93Fwz6m8iL
— Dr. Muffi Lakdawala (@DrMuffi) December 5, 2016
Call obviously heard. In a new tweet published this Friday, he thanked her for having “offered Eman a second chance in life”.
Thank you ma’am you are the one who started it all from your hospital bed. You have given Eman a second chance at life @SaveEmanCause https://t.co/ELqjsxLUPX
— Dr. Muffi Lakdawala (@DrMuffi) February 10, 2017
It remains to practice the operation. Last December, in the washington post, Dr. Lakdawala indeed admitted not knowing exactly how he was going to be able to proceed. “In any case, it will be a challenge,” he said in the American daily. If successful, Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty will have to stay in Mumbai for a few months while he recovers.
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