Anant Ambani has arranged for Iqbal Sheikh to be airlifted to Mumbai for specialist medical evaluation.
Iqbal Sheikh, 16, from Murshidabad in West Bengal, India, has spent roughly five years with most of his body submerged in a pond to manage an undiagnosed condition that causes severe burning sensations on his skin. His family took him to multiple hospitals and traditional healers, but no treatment provided lasting relief. The cool water of the pond became his only refuge.
Videos of Iqbal recently surfaced online, showing him mostly underwater and eating snacks while submerged. The footage spread across social platforms, drawing widespread attention to his unusual situation. After the story gained traction, Anant Ambani, one of India’s wealthiest individuals, reportedly stepped in to assist.
Ambani has organized for Iqbal to travel more than 1,300 miles to Mumbai for specialized medical evaluation and potential treatment. The teenager was airlifted from West Bengal, marking a dramatic turn in his years-long search for answers.
Doctors in Mumbai are expected to conduct thorough examinations to determine the underlying cause of Iqbal’s symptoms and develop a treatment plan. While no official diagnosis has been confirmed, some medical professionals have theorized that Iqbal may be suffering from erythromelalgia, a rare condition characterized by burning pain, warmth, and redness in affected areas.
According to the NHS, erythromelalgia most commonly impacts the feet but can affect other body parts as well. The exact cause remains unclear, though it sometimes stems from genetic inheritance. Flare-ups are typically triggered by factors that increase body temperature, which would explain why Iqbal found relief in the cool pond water.
In the viral moment that brought Iqbal’s story to global attention, videos showed him passing his days almost entirely submerged, with only his head above water as he ate and interacted with family members at the pond’s edge. The images were striking and unsettling—a teenage boy seemingly trapped in water, not for recreation or ritual, but as the only manageable response to chronic pain. His family had exhausted local medical options, and the pond became an improvised solution that stretched across years of his adolescence.
The intervention represents a significant shift for Iqbal and his family, who had previously faced the condition without external support or clear medical guidance. Whether the Mumbai specialists will confirm erythromelalgia or identify a different underlying condition remains to be seen through the examinations ahead.