Eman Ahmed suffered from risk factors, her death unfortunate: Mumbai doctors

Eman was brought to Mumbai from Egypt on February 11. (File Photo)

REITERATING that they had treated Eman Ahmed as a high-risk case that each doctor had to deal with very cautiously, the team of 16 specialists in Mumbai’s Saifee Hospital who managed her for three months expressed shock over her death on Monday morning following multi-organ failure. “We had been seeing her progress through news items. Neither did we attempt to interfere in her treatment after her discharge not did Burjeel Hospital ask us for medical advice. But it seemed she was doing really well,” said bariatric surgeon Dr Aparna Bhasker, now head of bariatrics at Global Hospital, who was treating Eman at Saifee.

She said Eman, 37, with her 500 kg weight, posed a huge challenge due to her pre-existing medical conditions such as hypothyroidism, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, renal problems and obesity. “It was always a high risk case.” “In Alexandria, when I first met her, we had to stabilise her for 10 days before bringing her to India. She had lost 100 kg before her first bariatrics surgery,” said Bhasker.

Eman’s weight reportedly came down to 170 kg between February and May in Mumbai before she was transferred to Abu Dhabi. Tweeting, head of Eman’s medical team in Mumbai, Dr Muffazal Lakdawala said, “You shall always remain in our thoughts and prayers. Shall forever remember her smile.”

Nephrologist Hemal Shah said her kidney functions were very poor and creatinine levels were high when she came to Mumbai, adding: “By the time of her discharge, it was in normal range.” On Monday, doctors at Burjeel Hospital said the Egyptian national suffered from kidney malfunction. “But her kidney was functioning normally at time of her discharge,” said Shah.

In Mumbai, Eman was looked after by a team of bariatrics surgeons, a diabetologist, a nutritionist, a nephrologist, an anaesthetist, physicians, physiotherapists and an intensivist. Dr Kamlesh Bohra, intensivist, said catheterisation could often lead to urinary tract infection. Eman had suffered one such infection last week. According to Bohra, after bariatrics surgery, a patient’s diabetes and hypertension can be controlled. “She required treatment for other co-morbidities, though,” he said. Doctors at Saifee Hospital also said Eman suffered from risk factors such as pulmonary embolism, heart problems, convulsions due to epilepsy and mobility issues because she had remained a long term bedridden patient.

“We put in our best. I am sure so did doctors at Burjeel Hospital. It is unfortunate that she passed away. Her death seems unrelated to obesity or bariatrics procedure,” said Bhasker. “She would smile, she would cry and sometimes she would get so angry that she threw stuff at her sister. But the best thing about her was that she never lost hope and probably that is why she became such a world-wide phenomenon,” she wrote in a blog Monday.