Egypt's 'heaviest woman' to transfer to Abu Dhabi hospital

Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty's journey to weight loss and recovery continues as the Egyptian national is set to be flown to Abu Dhabi for another complex surgery.

Doctors at Burjeel Hospital have been weighing in on the risks of flying the 36-year-old, who now weights 177 kilograms (390 pounds), to the Emirati capital.

"There are many factors that are being considered ahead of Eman's safe transportation," Sanet Meyer, director of medevac at Burjeel Hospital told The National on Thursday.

"Loading is vitally important in this process, in Mumbai and Abu Dhabi," Meyer said.

"We have a highly skilled medical support team in place that is assisting in the mission."

Eman weighed 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) when she arrived in Mumbai to undergo emergency weight-loss surgery. 

Doctors said she lost half her weight - around a quarter of a tonne - in the two months since she's been in India for treatment, and videos provided last week by Saifee Hospital, where the 37-year-old had bariatric surgery last month, showed Eman sitting up and smiling.

Earlier this week however, a row broke out between doctors at the Mumbai hospital and Eman's sister Shaimaa Selim, who alleged that her sibling had not shed half her weight, as claimed by specialists at the hospital.

The doctors rejected claims that they had lied about the amount of weight the Egyptian - once believed to be the world's heaviest woman - had lost following surgery.

Most of Eman's doctors have since quit looking after her, following the accusations.

Eman arrived in Mumbai on February 11 on a specially modified plane. 

Doctors put her on a special liquid diet to get her weight down to a low enough level for doctors to perform bariatric surgery, essentially a stomach-shrinking bypass procedure carried out on those wanting to lose excessive weight.

Doctors said there was not much more they could do for her in terms of further weight loss and she would need to see a specialist neurologist to help her with other ailments.

She has suffered right-sided paralysis, regular convulsions and several strokes.

Eman's family say that as a child she was diagnosed with elephantiasis, a condition that causes the limbs and other body parts to swell, leaving her almost immobile.