Earlier in the year, Egyptian woman Iman Abdulati made headlines when her family made public pleas to get her medical help. She’s believed to be the heaviest woman in the world, weighing 500kg.
Daily Mail Australia reports Iman has elephantiasis – a parasitic infection that causes extreme swelling in a sufferer’s limbs and arms.
Iman’s been bedridden since the age of 11 when she suffered a cerebral stroke.
Apparently the family weren’t helped medically until Iman’s sister Chaymaa went public with their struggle.
She’s now looking to get potentially life-saving weight loss surgery in India.
But it’s not without its hurdles
Iman wasn’t granted a visa initially as she was couldn’t leave the house to get to the embassy to be fingerprinted. Indian law requires visa applicants to allow immigration police to take their fingerprints.
It wasn’t until India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj saw her plight on Twitter that she was granted the medical visa.
Dr Muffazzal Lakdawala, the surgeon who’ll perform the series of operations, says she could lose 400kg in two years.
However, there is the huge problem of actually getting Iman to Mumbai from Egypt. At the moment, there’s hope a private plane will be able to take the 36-year-old to Egypt.
Dr Lakdawala said: “Her life is at risk. She is a living time bomb.”
Let’s hope the necessary steps are made to help get Iman to India for the life-saving op.
