10 things about Eman Ahmed, the 500kg Egyptian woman in Mumbai for surgery

An Egyptian woman, who weighs around 500kg, reached Mumbai for a weight-reducing bariatric surgery in a specially arranged chartered flight on Saturday.

The 36-year-old Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty stepped out of her house for the first time in 25 years to come to Mumbai. She has been suffering from multiple medical conditions and her treatment will be a long process which is expected to stretch over a couple of years.

Here are 10 things about the resident of the port city of Alexandria:

1) Abd El Aty weighed about 5kg when she was born and started to put on weight by the age of 11.

2) She had to discontinue schooling after Class 5 due to lethargy caused by thyroid problems.

3) The continuous weight gain restricted her lower extremities and she started to crawl instead of walking.

4) In 2014, when she weighed 300kg, Ahmed had high cholesterol level and a sudden stroke left her paralysed, impacted her speech and left her completely bedridden.

5) By 2016, Abd El Aty weighed about 500kg and was diagnosed with severe lymphedema and water retention, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and hypothyroidism. She has severe obstructive and restrictive lung disease, gout and is at a very high risk of pulmonary embolism.

6) After repeated attempts to avail medical aid from doctors in Egypt and Greece, Abd El Aty’s sister Shaimaa started an online campaign which caught the attention of noted laparoscopy surgeon, Dr Muffazal Lakdawala.

7) External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, during her stay at AIIMS Delhi, communicated with officials at the Indian embassy in Egypt who had rejected Abd El Aty’s visa application to come to India for treatment.

8) Abd El Aty, who lay in a specially created bed by Egyptian artisans, traveled in Egyptair freighter aircraft Airbus 300-600 to Mumbai and was brought to Saifee Hospital in an open to sky truck, covered by all sides for security purposes.

9) She is currently at a specially created 1,000 sqft first-floor facility, which used to be the accounts office previously. A ground floor structure, created by Saifee for Ahmed was demolished by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) due to lack of permission.

10) Abd El Aty is currently under observation. Before any surgical intervention, she will need a series of medical tests including routine body check-up and a complete body profile test. Doctors will also do a special gene study for the 91 different types of biomarkers isolated with obesity related syndrome.