Indian doctors try skills on world’s fattest woman

Eman Ahmed’s biggest challenge began on February 13.

The 37-year-old Egyptian, touted as the world’s heaviest woman at 500 kg, arrived in Mumbai, India on February 11 for weight reduction surgery.

She was served only liquid supplements. This, in the hope that she drops 50 kg in 25 days, otherwise an impossible task. Simply put, she will have to lose 2 kg every day to even qualify for the life-saving bariatric surgery she desperately needs.

Being lifted out of her home in Alexandria, Egypt

Dr Carlyne Remedios, nutritionist and group manager, Clinic Practices, Nutrition and Product Development, Saifee Hospital – where Eman is being treated – says in the last two days, the doctors stuck to the diet – chicken, mutton and bread – she had back home in Alexandria once a day to avoid putting the body into sudden distress.

The 1,000-sqft room at Saifee Hospital that’s now Eman’s home

Eman is given only liquid supplements rich in protein, fibre and dairy every two hours, six to seven times a day. “Rather than eating once a day, the intake will be split into six to seven times a day,” says Dr Remedios.

The diet would address her protein deficiency, and its dairy and fibre components would take care of her calcium needs and improve digestive health, respectively.

Besides the diet, Eman will undergo passive physiotherapy – involving massage and joint mobilisation – to burn fat and improve blood circulation.

If everything goes as planned, then she is expected to lose 50 kg in 20-25 days.

Stricter regimen on the cards

Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, leading bariatric surgeon whose initiative brought Eman to Mumbai, says the weight loss is imperative to allow for bariatric surgery later.

“Owing to her obesity, she has been bedridden for more than two decades. There is zero movement in some body parts. So, with the help of physiotherapy, we will try to regain blood circulation in those parts.”

After she sheds some kilos, she will be put on a rigorous exercise regimen.

Dr Shashank Shah, head of the department of metabolic and bariatric and diabetic surgery at SL Raheja Hospital, Mahim, says Eman’s organs like kidney, liver and heart need to be under constant watch, too, since obesity affects them as well.

Foldable bed to come soon Eman will in five days get a bed that can be folded into a chair, which had been sent by Saifee Hospital to Cairo ahead of Eman’s move. The bed, gifted by a Mulund-based philanthropist to the hospital, was supposed to arrive with Eman on Saturday, but couldn’t be accommodated in the freighter owing to the space crunch.

“The current bed can’t be moved, but the new one will have joints to allow it to be folded into a chair. It will also help elevate her head with support,” says Dr Lakdawala.