Saturday, August 14, 2010

Medics use crane to rescue obese woman

Medics in Taiwan had to use a crane to haul an obese woman out of her flat after four workers failed to lift her. Miss Chen, who weighs 155 kg (24st 5lbs), called emergency services after dizziness left her unable to move.

Four medics who arrived first at the scene failed to carry her out from her apartment and had to call for back-up. It took eight firefighters to move Chen to a stretcher and a crane to lift her out of her apartment. After more than an hour of painstaking effort, Chen was finally taken to hospital.



The patient, who has been suffering from diabetes and hypertension, once weighed more than 215 kg (about 33st 12lbs) , but has been struggling to lose weight. There has been a rapid increase in obesity in many Asian countries in the last few decades, fuelled by growing affluence and people moving from the countryside to cities, where they have become sedentary and are eating fattier foods.

The World Health Organization predicts that mainland China will have 42 million cases of diabetes, a disease linked to excess weight, by 2030 - a two-fold increase from 2009.

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