World’s fattest woman loses 250kg after surgery in India

An Egyptian woman, believed to have been the world’s fattest woman, has lost 250kg (550lbs) after undergoing surgery in an Indian hospital.

According to BBC, Eman Abd El Aty’s family said she originally weighed 500kg and was unable to leave her home for 25 years.

Abd El Aty had bariatric surgery at Mumbai’s Saifee hospital two months ago, after which the hospital said she could fit into a wheelchair and sit up for longer periods of time.

Bariatric surgery, also known as weight loss surgery, is used as a last resort to treat people who are dangerously obese and carrying an excessive amount of body fat.

The surgery was performed by a team of doctors led by Muffazal Lakdawala.

Lakdawala explained that Abd El Aty continued to “rapidly” lose weight, but added that a stroke she had suffered as a child meant that she was still paralysed on one side of her body.

“The hospital was now waiting for her to lose enough weight for her to be able to fit inside a CT scan machine to ascertain the cause of her stroke,” he said.

Lakdawala said the next stage of her treatment involved putting her on a trial drug for obesity after six months. The hospital is currently attempting to procure the drug from a US based pharmaceutical company.

Abd El Aty’s family says she weighed 5kg (11lb) at birth and was diagnosed with elephantiasis, a condition in which body parts swell due to a parasitic infection.

By the time she was 11, her weight had risen sharply and she suffered a stroke which left her bedridden.

Abd El Aty’s weight loss means she may no longer be the heaviest woman alive.