SAUDI ARABIA’S King Abdullah has intervened to help a man who has become one of the heaviest people in the world.

    The king ordered Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari, who weighs 1,345 pounds (610 kg) and is unable to move by himself, be transferred from the Southern border province of Jazan to the country’s capital Riyadh to undergo treatment.

    According to Guinness World Records, the record weight for a living person is held by Manuel Uribe from Mexico, who weighed 1,235 pounds (560 kg) in 2006. After making a television appeal for help, his weight in March 2012 had fallen to 980 pounds (444.6 kg.)

    According to the official spokesman for Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health, Shaari arrived in Riyadh late Monday.

    He will be treated at the King Fahd Medical City, and undergo a series of dietary and physical programs in order to help him lose weight, the spokesman said. Although surgery is not scheduled at the moment, the Ministry of Health says it has not been ruled out. Special beds and trolleys have been made for him.

    This case highlights how obesity is a growing problem in the Gulf.

    According to the United Nations, Kuwait has the highest proportion of obese adults in the Middle East, with 42.8 percent of its population considered severely overweight. Saudi Arabia follows at 35.2 percent.  (SD-Agencies)