Eman Ahmed undergoes weight-reduction surgery, all set to fly back home

Taniya Dutta 

The world’s fattest woman Eman Ahmed, has had successful life saving surgery to reduce her weight and is all set to fly home.

Eman Ahmed, 36, had weighed 78 stone but doctors reduced her stomach by 75 per cent in the operation at Saifee Hospital in Mumbai in India two days ago.

She had already lost 18 stone before the op but doctors are now monitoring the further weight loss ahead of flying her back home to Alexandria, Egypt.

Eman has been in hospital since February 10th when she was moved out of her home for the first time in 25 years by removing the wall from her room and a crane lifted out her bed. She was then flown in a cargo plane to India.

A spokesperson at the hospital said: “Eman successfully underwent a Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy. She had an uneventful surgery and anesthesia course. We will attempt to reduce at least 200 kilos (30 stone) in the first six months.

“She is now on oral fluids and accepting them well. We are working on to correct all her associated medical problems so she gets fit enough to fly back to Egypt as soon as possible.”

Doctors are deciding the future course of action once she is stabilised.

Pic from Caters News

They are also awaiting Eman’s genetic test results to understand if a genetic disorder might be responsible for obesity.

There is no history of obesity in her family, inclining the doctors to suspect a genetic mutation may be responsible for the uncontrolled weight gain.

On her arrival, Eman’s body mass index was 252-ten times the normal limit and water accounted to up to 15 stone of her total weight.

She was put on a strict 1200-calorie high fibre and protein diet to reduce fluids in her body and lost a staggering 18 stone within a month enabling doctors to operate.

Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty was born weighing a staggering 11 lbs and was shortly diagnosed afterwards with the parasitic disease called Elephantiasis.

She also suffers from sleep apnea, hypothyroid, diabetes, hypertension, kidney problems, fluid retention and most importantly obesity

By the time she turned 11, she was too heavy to support her weight standing up, and resorted to crawling in her home on her knees.

Eventually she lost the strength to move on her own and was bedridden for 25 years.

She was so fat that a wall of her room had to be brought down to help her bring out.

After a seven-hour flight, she was placed in a mini truck at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and transported to the hospital in a specially equipped truck.

She was accompanied by her sister, Shaimaa Ahmed, and a team of doctors from the hospital.

A team of 16 specialists and over eight nurses are looking after her. The hospital is providing free treatment to Eman and already has spent 25 million pounds in building an infrastructure to house Eman for the next six month.

The hospital has so far collected around 6 million pounds through crowd-sourcing.

Following a bariatric surgery, patients can lose up to 75% of their body fat in a year. For Eman, the doctors hope to make her lose around 440 pounds in the next six months.