Twelve out of the 13 doctors treating Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty have withdrawn themselves from her daily treatment as a symbolic resignation after her sister’s allegations that Ms. Ahmed has not lost much weight and her condition has been critical for long.
Ms. Eman Ahmed is considered to be the heaviest living woman in the world.
The doctors submitted their letters to the Saifee Hospital authorities on Tuesday, stating that Shaaima Selim’s backlash is the worst kind of assault that a patient’s family can do to a doctor.
“We will not see her on a daily basis and only go when the patient needs us. Whatever has happened is extremely disappointing,” said bariatric surgeon Dr. Aparna Govil Bhasker, who is one of the doctors in Dr. Mufazzal Lakdawala’s team. “The allegations have stemmed out of the fact that Ms. Selim doesn’t want to take her sister home.” To Ms. Selim’s allegations that doctors are not taking proper care, Dr. Bhasker said she even came on holidays to attend to Ms. Eman Ahmed.
“It is very hurtful when she claims that the doctors have not been seeing her.”
On Tuesday morning, Ms. Eman Ahmed was finally put into a CT scan machine. Doctors claimed that she weighed 171 kg and therefore could get into the machine that has a capacity of 204 kg. The scan report revealed that she did not have fresh brain ailment.
“The scan suggested an old vascular insult in the left middle cerebral territory of her brain . There is no appreciable area of fresh infarct or intracranial haemorrhage,” said Dr. Rajiv Mehta, chief consultant and head of imaging sciences at Saifee Hospital, in a statement.
‘My sister will die’
Ms. Selim claimed that her sister is not in a condition to leave Mumbai. “The doctors want to send her back. But her condition is not good at all. The claims of her weight loss are false and just for the media,” she said, adding that Dr. Lakdawala had said that Ms. Eman Ahmed may lose 50 kg in a year after the surgery.
“Now suddenly, he claims that she had lost 300 kg. It is not possible. My sister will die.”
The hospital authorities, however, felt that her backlash began after Ms. Eman Ahmed was shifted to the main hospital building’s seventh floor from the specially-constructed ward.
Ms. Selim also had a fully-equipped room next to her sister’s. Doctors said shifting her was possible only because she can now fit in a regular bed and also that she could be closer to physiotherapy and occupational therapy rooms.
On Tuesday, Egyptian consul general Ahmed Khalil had a meeting with the doctors and Ms. Selim, but could not pacify her.
