How a 1,344-Pound Man Is Transported to the Hospital

Saudi Civil Defense and military personnel were called in on Monday to oversee logistics for moving a morbidly obese man weighing in at 610 kilograms or 1,344 pounds to a hospital in the capital Riyadh.

Khaled Mohsen Shaeri, in his twenties, had to travel to King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh for an operation to remove more than 170 lbs. from his stomach and thus hopefully improve his mobility, reports Al Arabiya. His massive weight was impeding his ability to walk.

A forklift was employed in the elaborate procedure to move the man, and was all paid for by Saudi King Abdullah, AFP reports.

Saudi media report that the unique bed used to transport him was special ordered from the U.S.

Khaled Mohsen Shaeri on the bed reportedly specially-ordered from the U.S. as a forklift removes him from his second floor apartment (Image source: Euronews screenshot)

Saudi military, civil defense, and health officials were called in to help with the elaborate transport operation (Image source: Euronews screenshot)

Khaled is carefully moved into an ambulance waiting to take him to the airport for a flight to the capital Riyadh for medical treatment (Image source: Euronews screenshot)

From his home in Jizan in southwestern Saudi Arabia, he was transported to the capital Riyadh on a specially-equipped aircraft, according to the SPA state news agency.

The rescue team which included civil, military and health personnel ran a dry run of the extraction operation on Sunday to make sure Monday’s plans would go smoothly, adds SPA as translated by Albawaba.

Euronews reports that he’s been home for more than two years, because he couldn’t get out of his second floor apartment.

The Saudi monarch earlier this year instructed the Health Ministry to provide Shaeri medical treatment, but health workers were unable to transport him.

According to the newspaper Sabq, the man put on the dramatic weight due to a preexisting health condition, and quoted a medical official who said, “A health team which has visited him recently described his condition as exceptional and that they had not seen like it before.”

Here is the video of the rescue operation, as shown in this report from EuroNews:

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