Dubai: The expertise of an Indian doctor, who will operate on the world’s heaviest woman in Mumbai, is available right here in Dubai.
Last week, Dr Muffazal Lakdawala, a bariatric surgeon at Mumbai’s Centre for Obesity and Digestive Surgery, hit international headlines after agreeing to conduct a surgery on 36-year-old Eman Ahmad Abdul Ati, a 500kg Egyptian in Cairo who would be flown to Mumbai shortly.
But what went largely unreported as the news broke locally was the fact that Dr Lakdawala, a pioneer of single incision, scarless surgery, had joined as specialist general surgeon at Bur Dubai’s Medeor 24x7 Hospital.
Twice a month
The surgeon, believed to have performed the largest number (500) of single incision surgeries in Asia, told XPRESS he would be visiting the hospital twice a month for consultations and procedures.
He said like people in other developed countries, those in the UAE too faced a problem of plenty in terms of the availability of food and lifestyle options. But it was important to take steps that would prevent obesity as the chronic condition posed increased risks of developing heart disease, diabetes and other ailments.
Dr Lakdawala, who is credited to have performed the first laparoscopic roux – en – Y gastric bypass in India and the first laparoscopic Whipple’s procedure in western India, has also operated on China’s most obese man and done Asia’s first single incision sleeve gastrectomy. The doctor, who has several high-profile politicians and celebrities as his patients, said it was one of his international patients who had referred the obese Egyptian woman to him.
“The immediate aim is to downsize the risk she faces and improve her quality of life. She has been bedridden for the past 25 years,” he said, noting that the surgery would be done in two-three stages.
He said the modalities of transporting her to India were being worked out, and there was a possibility that she could transit through Dubai.
While the woman’s family claims she weighs over 500 kg, her exact weight would be known once she came in for treatment. “We would be using a heavy duty scale to weigh her along with her bed,” said Dr Lakdawala.
Reports earlier talked about the challenges being faced in finding an airline that had an aircraft with a wide enough door to accommodate Abdul Ati and the possibility of having to make seat modifications inside to create room for her stretcher.
