Ma'am , Eman Ahmed (Egypt) 500kgs requested me 2 save her pls help me get her a medical visa as refused thru normal process @SushmaSwaraj pic.twitter.com/93Fwz6m8iL — Dr Muffi Lakdawala (@DrMuffi) December 5, 2016 
 
 For more than two decades, Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty has not left her home in Egypt. But now the 36-year-old woman is set to travel 2,700 miles to Mumbai for potentially lifesaving surgery. Abd El Aty weighs about 1,100 pounds, according to her family. 
 
 At that weight, Abd El Aty would be the heaviest woman alive by roughly 450 pounds, and close to the heaviest woman ever to live. (At her heaviest, Michigan woman Carol Yager weighed 1,189 pounds, according to a 1993 Associated Press report.) 
 
 Muffazal Lakdawala, a bariatric surgeon at the Center for Obesity and Digestive Surgery in Mumbai, will operate on Abd El Aty. The doctor has performed the most single-incision laparoscopic surgeries (a minimally invasive procedure that relies on video cameras threaded into the body) in the world, according to his bio on the medical center’s website. The Times of India reported that Lakdawala has operated on high-ranking Indian politicians, including two ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet. 
 
 Lakdawala told The Washington Post he has operated on patients above 660 pounds before, but Abd El Aty’s surgery will be “very high risk.” 
 
 Abd El Aty’s sister contacted Lakdawala after Egyptian doctors determined there was little they could do for the bedridden woman. When Lakdawala received her photograph, as the surgeon told The Post by phone early Thursday, he was stunned. 
 
 “My initial reaction was ‘How is she even alive?’” Lakdawala said. But he was determined to help. “If I can somehow use whatever God-gifted talent I have to save her,” he said, “I must try.” 
 
 To operate on patients with extreme weights, even transportation is an obstacle. In 2014, a crane was required to move the then-heaviest man in the world, Manuel Uribe, to a hospital. Taking Abd El Aty out of her home will probably require the demolition of a wall in her room, Lakdawala said. 
 
 And Abd El Aty’s case has already faced hurdles. Getting a visa from the Indian Embassy in Cairo threatened to halt Abd El Aty’s voyage, because it required visiting the embassy for fingerprinting. So Lakdawala petitioned Sushma Swaraj, India’s Minister of External Affairs, on Twitter. Abd El Aty received her medical visa shortly thereafter. The doctor said he is now communicating with commercial airlines to find a plane with an entrance that can accommodate Abd El Aty. He anticipates she will fly to Mumbai within a week to 10 days. 
 
 As for the medical procedure itself, which Lakdawala said he is performing pro bono, he does not know yet exactly what he will do. Abd El Aty’s medical records are sparse. But he thinks the weight-loss surgery will help her lose at least 200 to 300 pounds. 
 
 He also anticipates Abd El Aty will need to remain in Mumbai for months as she recovers. “In every sense, she’s a challenge,” Lakdawala said. “This is a challenge not just for my skill set but for my team.” 
 
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 22 heavily armed men post mannequin challenge on Facebook, much to delight of cops ||||| An Egyptian woman, believed to be the world's heaviest woman at 500kg (1,102lb), will soon be flown to India for weight reduction surgery. 
 
 Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, 36, will be flown on a chartered plane to Mumbai where bariatric surgeon Dr Muffazal Lakdawala plans to operate. 
 
 The Indian embassy in Cairo initially denied her visa request as she was unable to travel there in person. 
 
 After the surgeon tweeted to India's foreign minister that changed. 
 
 India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is herself in hospital awaiting a kidney transplant, was quick to respond with an offer of help. 
 
 Ms Abd El Aty's family says she hasn't been able to leave home for 25 years now and claims she weighs 500kg. 
 
 If the claim about her weight is true, then that would make her the world's heaviest woman alive as the current Guinness record holder is Pauline Potter of the United States who weighed 292kg (643lb) in 2010. 
 
 Dr Lakdawala, who has performed weight reduction surgeries on Indian minister Nitin Gadkari and Venkaiah Naidu, told the BBC that from looking at Ms Abd El Aty's medical reports and photographs, he believes that she weighs at least 450kg. 
 
 Ms Abd El Aty's family says she weighed 5kg (11lb) at birth and was diagnosed with elephantiasis, a condition in which a limb or other body parts swell due to a parasitic infection, Dr Lakdawala told the BBC in a phone call from Mumbai. 
 
 "They said when she was 11, she had gained immense weight because of which she could not stand up and would crawl. 
 
 "And then she suffered a stroke which left her bedridden and she has not been able to leave home since then." 
 
 Ms Abd El Aty is cared for by her mother and sister. 
 
 Dr Lakdawala said Ms Abd El Aty's sister got in touch with him in October and he began raising money to bring her over to Mumbai as her family was too poor and unable to bear the costs of chartering a flight. 
 
 "We are expecting to fly her to Mumbai next week as soon as the formalities are over," he said. 
 
 Dr Lakdawala believes that Ms Abd El Aty does not have elephantiasis, but suffers from obesity-related lymphoedema which causes gigantic swelling of legs. 
 
 "She would need to remain in Mumbai for two to three months for the surgery and treatment after which she would be able to return home, but it would take two to three years to bring her body weight under 100kg," the surgeon said. 
 
 "I'm hopeful that I will be able to help her, I won't say I'm confident because I think that would be an exaggeration," he added. 
 
 What is bariatric surgery? 
 
 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. 
 
 In the UK, this type of surgery is available on the NHS only to treat people with potentially life-threatening obesity when other treatments have not worked. 
 
 Around 8,000 people a year in the UK currently receive the treatment. 
 
 The two most common types of weight loss surgery are: 
 
 Gastric band, where a band is used to reduce the size of the stomach so a smaller amount of food is required to make someone feel full 
 
 Gastric bypass, where the digestive system is re-routed past most of the stomach so less food is digested to make someone feel full 
 
 Where are you on the global fat scale? ||||| Image copyright Saifee Hospital Image caption Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty after the surgery 
 
 An Egyptian woman, believed to be the world's heaviest at 500kg (1,102lb), has undergone weight reduction surgery. 
 
 A spokesperson at Mumbai's Saifee Hospital said Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty, 36, had lost 100kg since arriving in India in January. 
 
 "We are trying to get her fit enough to fly back to Egypt as soon as possible," the hospital said in a statement. 
 
 Her family said she had not left her house for 25 years until she came to Mumbai on a chartered plane. 
 
 The spokesperson told the BBC that she was likely to lose more weight in the coming months. 
 
 The surgery was performed by a team of doctors led by bariatric surgeon, Dr Muffazal Lakdawala. 
 
 Bariatric surgery, also known as weight loss surgery, is used as a last resort to treat people who are dangerously obese (having a body mass index of 40 or above or 35 plus other obesity-related health conditions). 
 
 Image copyright Saifee Hospital Image caption Ms Abd El Aty before the surgery 
 
 Ms 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. 
 
 She is cared for by her mother and sister. 
 
 However, Dr Lakdawala told the BBC in December that he believed Ms Abd El Aty did not have elephantiasis but suffered from obesity-related lymphoedema which causes gigantic swelling of the legs. 
 
 What is bariatric surgery? 
 
 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 two most common types of weight loss surgery are: 
 
 Gastric band, where a band is used to reduce the size of the stomach so a smaller amount of food is required to make someone feel full
– Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty's family says the 36-year-old Egyptian woman hasn't left her home in 25 years, the BBC reports. Her extreme weight forced her to crawl instead of walk by age 11, and an ensuing stroke left her bedridden. Her family says she weighs more than 1,100 pounds, which would make her the heaviest woman alive—the current Guinness record-holder is only 643 pounds—and close to the heaviest woman ever, according to the Washington Post. While Abd El Aty's weight hasn't been confirmed, Dr. Muffazal Lakdawala in India estimates she is at least 990 pounds based on photos of her. "My initial reaction was '‘How is she even alive?'" he says. His next reaction was to try to save her. Abd El Aty is expected to arrive in Mumbai for surgery in the next 10 days, but it won't be an easy journey. "In every sense, she's a challenge," Lakdawala says. The bariatric surgeon has been raising money to get her to Mumbai and will be operating pro bono, the Times of India reports. But it's not just money that's an issue. Because she can't leave her room, Abd El Aty was unable to make it to the Indian embassy to be fingerprinted for a visa; only a personal plea from Lakdawala secured her an exemption. And while transporting Abd El Aty will be challenging in its own right, Lakdawala says the surgery itself is "very high risk." He says he's "hopeful" but not "confident" he can help Abd El Aty lose up to 300 pounds. (For the obese, objects are closer than they appear.)