RIYADH: A 20-year-old man suffering from extreme obesity was extracted from his home in Jazan on Monday and airlifted to the national capital in an elaborate operation that involved Ministry of Health, Civil Defense and military personnel.
Khalid Mohsen Shaeri, weighing 610-kilogram, had to be extracted from the second floor of an apartment building with the use of a forklift. He was then flown to Riyadh on board a special plane, accompanied by a special medical team, and taken to the King Fahd Medical City (KFMC) for treatment.
At the air force base in Riyadh, the patient was received by Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Humaidhi, head of medical team in charge of the transfer, and Dr. Mahmoud Yamani, KFMC executive director general.
Shaeri was expected to be operated on to remove excess flab by the same team that successfully performed surgery on a 250-kg man also suffering from extreme obesity.
On Sunday, Health Minister Abdullah Al-Rabeeah announced the mission to fetch Shaeri from Jazan on orders of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah.
According to SPA, a multi-agency team conducted an experiment to extract the patient from his second floor apartment in Jazan to an ambulance and then to the evacuation plane, to ensure that the evacuation would go smoothly.
Dr. Ayed Al-Qahtani, consultant laparoscopic surgery and obesity at KFMC, had said surgery have to be performed urgently on extremely obese patients such to avoid complications.
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