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August 21, 2013

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Forklift helps 1,300-pound Saudi man get to hospital for obesity treatment

A Saudi Arabian man weighing 1,345 pounds, who had been unable to leave his home for two and a half years, was airlifted to a hospital under special instruction from King Abdullah.

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

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A 1,345-pound Saudi Arabia man had to have part of his house demolished so that he could be taken for treatment organized by the country’s king, according to reports.

Khalid Mohsin Shaeri, who is one of the heaviest in the world, has been unable to leave his bedroom for the past two and a half years, Reuters reported.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah intervened in the case, ordering Khalid to be taken to the capital, Riyadh, for specialist obesity treatment, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.

Part of Khalid’s home, in the region of Jazan, was demolished Tuesday so that he could be brought down from the second floor.

A forklift was used to transfer him to an ambulance which took him to a local airport and a waiting aircraft to take him to hospital.

“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” his cousin, Naser Makke, told Reuters.

Regional English-language news site Arabian Business quoted Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health, Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah, saying the king’s intervention reflected the king’s “great care and support for providing health care to citizens.”

According to Guinness World Records, the heaviest man in medical history was American Jon Brower Minnoch, who at one stage weighed some 1,400 pounds. He died in 1983.

Reuters contributed to this report.