Doctors at Abu Dhabi hospital aim to reduce Eman’s weight to less than 100kg
Liposuction and excess skin removal to begin in August in the second stage of treatment
The process may take as long as another year, but doctors in an Abu Dhabi hospital said they aim to bring down Eman Abdul Atti’s weight to less than 100kg.
Speaking at a press conference in the capital on Monday, they said the journey would be a challenge, but that the 36-year-old Egyptian had made remarkable progress since her arrival on May 4.
“Our goal is to give Abdul Atti the best quality of life that is possible, and we are working to help her reduce her body weight to half what it was when she initially arrived.
“Her acute health concerns, including the severe bedsores and urinary tract infection, have mostly been resolved, and in August, we will begin with liposuction and removal of excess skin,” Dr Yassin Al Shahat, chief medical officer at Burjeel Hospital, told Gulf News.
Although details about her weight when she arrived in Abu Dhabi were not revealed, Dr Al Shahaat said yesterday that Abdul Atti had lost 65kg during her two-and-a-halfmonth stay in the capital.
At the press conference, Abdul Atti made her first public appearance. Dressed in a vibrant red, she was brought in to the hall on a special wheelchair. Abdul Atti waved at members of the press and the Egyptian Ambassador to the UAE, Wael Mohammad Gad.
Meanwhile, her younger sister, Shaima Selim, thanked the hospital and the Abu Dhabi Government and authorities for the treatment and care provided to her sister. Abdul Atti also appeared just as cheerful when Gulf News visited her in her room a while later.
Abdul Atti’s bedridden plight first came to international attention when her family issued an online plea for help to Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi. Medical records showed that she was born weighing 5.5kg, and had become obese at an early age. Following a stroke two years ago, Abdul Atti had lost the ability to move her upper and lower limbs, and had become confined to bed.
In February 2017, Abdul Atti was finally flown to a Mumbai-based hospital, where she underwent bariatric surgery in March. Hospital reports claimed the surgery had helped reduce her weight from 500kg, but a subsequent dispute about her future treatment led Abdul Atti’s family to reach out to Burjeel Hospital.
In Abu Dhabi, doctors found that Abdul Atti suffers from a congenital leptin receptor deficiency. Leptin, known as the satiety hormone, helps signal to the body that it is full. In the rare cases in which a patient is deficient in leptin receptors, the brain does not receive the signal that a person is satiated, and the patient therefore constantly feels hungry.
“This condition caused her to keep eating, and become morbidly obese. But we are now working closely with Abdul Atti and her family to ensure this does not recur,” Dr El Shahat explained.
To promote weight loss, the team of medical practitioners working with Abdul Atti limits her diet to about 800 calories a day. They also provide daily physiotherapy, and this has helped her regain the ability to move her arms, feet and even legs. A speech therapist is helping Abdul Atti pronounce words and regain the ability to swallow efficiently, and a psychologist meets with her daily.
Dr Nehad Halawa, deputy medical director at the hospital and head of Abdul Atti’s treating team, said: “Once we have been able to reduce Abdul Atti’s weight, the plan is to perform surgeries required to correct an aortic valve defect in the third stage of treatment.
“She also has tremendous stiffness in the joints and knees of her lower limbs, and these too might require surgical intervention.”