BALURGHAT: Siddiqa Parveen, recognised globally as the world’s tallest woman, succumbed to a rare disease at the age of 36 years. Her death on Wednesday at the Gangarampur Super Speciality Hospital has cast a pall of gloom over the entire town.
A resident of Shrirampur village in the Banshihari block, Siddiqa Parveen’s unusual growth began at the age of 23 due to a tumor in her pituitary gland. Standing at a towering height of 8 feet 4 inches and weighing around 160 kilograms, her condition led to an extraordinary increase in her height, weight and even her appetite.
The economically backward family struggled to meet her daily requirement of nearly 5 kilograms of rice. In recent times, Siddiqa’s health deteriorated further. Over the last week, her condition worsened, leading to her admission to the Gangarampur Super Speciality Hospital on Wednesday morning. Due to the severity of her condition, doctors planned to transfer her to another facility for advanced treatment. However, before the transfer could take place, Siddiqa passed away in the hospital.
Her uncle, Muktarul Islam, said: “Siddiqa was severely ill for the past few days, unable to pass urine or stool for an entire week.” Siddiqa Parveen gained international recognition in 2013 when she was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest woman in the world. Despite receiving treatment at Delhi AIIMS and later at Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital for her condition, her health continued to decline, ultimately leading to her untimely demise.