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Boy with club feet waiting for surgery

AJMAN — When he sees other children go to school and play around him, Mohammed, a four-year-old boy with club feet who can not walk with his deformed legs and has to literally crawl on the floor, bursts into tears.

The deformity resulted apparently due to lack of oxygen at the time of his birth.

The child has been advised bilateral club foot correction surgery to be conducted under general anaesthesia which will cost around Dh800 without adding the charges of stay at the hospital. If the surgery is conducted for both feet, the cost will come to around Dh12,000 including the operation, anaesthesia and doctors charges. But the boy's parents have to pay for the hospital stay separately.

The surgery can be conducted at GMC hospital in Ajman which offered them some discount, but the couple still can't afford to pay the charges of treatment due to their low income.

Mohammed's mother is a housewife and his father works for the sport club earning only Dh2000 which is insufficient to run the household. His parents who live in small apartment in Ajman cannot afford to provide him a medical treatment to bring the smile on his face as any other children. His mother feels an enormous sadness over failure to get treatment for the boy and her tears never dry up watching her only son creeping on the floor. They don't even have a wheel chair to move him from place to place because they can't afford to buy it.

Mohammed, though, is mentally alert and interacts with his parents and others as a normal child. His mental and intellectual power is growing normally.

Recalls the mother, Umm Mohammed “I don't know sleep, taste of the food and happiness when I remember that I have done nothing for my baby watching him suffering and struggling in the life. Life has been miserable for me since I gave birth to my baby.”

She blamed the nurses at the hospital in Sharjah for delaying the delivery time by telling her that she was not yet ready. Despite her completing the pregnancy period and being ready for mature delivery, the hospital made her wait till she passed the 9 months and 10 with more days. She said she was not feeling any contraction by the time came for the baby to come to the life.

She hoped people will can help her son lead a normal life and put a smile on his face by providing him with medical treatment.

• UAE