Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has intervened to help a man whose weight has ballooned to an incredible 610 kg (96 stone), making him one of the world’s heaviest people.
The king has ordered the transfer of patient Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari from the region of Jazan to Riyadh for treatment at King Fahd Medical City, Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
It said the patient suffers from “unusual obesity” with his 610 kg frame “preventing him from movement”.
According to the Guinness World Records, the heaviest person in medical history was American Jon Brower Minnoch who weighed 635 kg.
The news agency quoted Minister of Health, Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah, as saying the move reflected the king’s “great care and support for providing health care to citizens”.
“Immediately after the issuance of the King’s order, the Ministry of Health formed a specialised medical team to visit the patient in the city of Jazan to plan transportation and treatment and to determine the requirements in such a case,” he added.
Final arrangements for transport and treatment are currently underway in coordination with the concerned authorities, the statement said.
According to a recent United Nations study, Kuwait led the way in highest proportion of obese adults in the GCC, with 42.8 percent falling into this bracket in 2008, followed by Saudi Arabia at 35.2 percent.
Another report by Frost & Sullivan claimed that GCC healthcare expenditure will triple to $133.19bn by 2018, partly on the back of rising incidences of lifestyle diseases, which appallingly have an incidence rate in the region of about 20 percent.
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