Mass Confusion
THE WEEK|May 07, 2017

Sister says Eman Ahmed, formerly the world’s heaviest woman, hasn’t lost much weight. Egyptian doctor says the medical procedure is questionable

Anuradha Varanasi
Mass Confusion

About three months ago, Eman Ahmed, weighing about 500 kilos, came to India to lose weight and find hope. Her sister, Shaimaa Selim, had accompanied her from Alexandria, Egypt, to Saifee Hospital in Mumbai, where she is currently undergoing treatment. Shaimaa had written a heartfelt letter to bariatric surgeon Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, who helped them reach India and took on the challenge to restore Eman’s life. It made headlines, and a lot of good wishes poured in.

However, on April 14, in a bitter turn of events, Shaimaa alleged, in a video on social media, that Eman’s condition was not stable. She even called Lakdawala a liar. The video, in which she speaks in Arabic, soon went viral.

“I am not convinced Eman’s weight has dropped to 171kg within three months. They have not checked her weight even once since she was admitted,” she said. “Despite the fact that Eman had had a stroke, the doctors decided to shift her out of the special room to the main hospital building. There are no adequate facilities or machines in the new room. In fact, when I protested, the electricity supply in my room was cut for one day.”

Shaimaa told THE WEEK that Eman suffered from breathlessness and continued to eat from a feeding tube. She said that Eman would be discharged in May, but she was not yet fit for the journey back home.

This story is from the May 07, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.

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This story is from the May 07, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.

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