Kawthar, child girl with Leishmaniasis is in good care

(Translation by Yusra Ahmed)

Kawthar Mohamed Ezzo, the child girl with Leishmaniasis is in good care as the Turkish Health Minister ordered to provide the appropriate treatment amid impressive interaction by activists.

Two days ago, Zaman Alwasl posted a story of 8-year-old girl, who got abused due to her Leishmaniasis disease by a relief agency, used her to collect donations before being dumped near Dar al-Shefa’a Hospital in Reyhanlı, Turkish border town with Syria.

Ezzo’s distressing photos, circulated on social media, sparked outrage within Syrian activists who communicated with Zaman Alwasl to provide help.

Kawthar Full Story

Zaman Alawsl followed the girl’s story to find out that she had lost her father after bombing their house by regime’s forces in Anjara village in Aleppo countryside, then she moved to live with her grandmother in a village in Idlib’s countryside in the beginning of this year, to get infected with Lieshmania “Aleppo’s boil”, then her condition had severely deteriorated because of neglect and lack of treatment.

Dr. Ala’a Addin al-Wahab, who supervised Kawthar’s treatment said: “the girl visited a medical centre in Idlib’s countryside in the beginning of this year and it was found that her condition was too advanced as a large area of her face, upper lip and nose were abraded, besides pus discharge from the same area”.

Dr. Wahab confirmed that the initial diagnosis was Mucu-dermal Lieshmania confirming that her condition stared to improve after changing her medication into another, but unfortunately it was only available in limited amount in some Aleppo’s hospitals. Moreover he confirmed that the girl carried on her treatment till she disconnected her visits to the centre without knowing the reason.

In this regard, Zaman Alwasl discovered that reasons behind Kawthar’s disappearance were her travel to Turkey after a Belgium charity agency convinced her grandmother to let the girl with them to Turkey to treat her, to discover later that Kawthar was a victim of human trafficking.

Yasser al-Sayyed, a lawyer and the director of Dar al-Istishfa that Kawthar was transferred told Zaman Alwasl that one of his aquatints who is a pharmacist called “Abo Rayyan” brought the girl to him to give her a temporary accommodation, till they find her parents and told him that he found her alone near his pharmacy opposite Dar al-Istishfa. The lawyer confirmed that people from “The Poor” the Belgium charity agency contacted him before, requesting help to facilitate Kawthar’s entering to Turkey via “Atma” border crossing to get her treated in a private hospital, ,but he rejected claiming that the girl’s medical condition was not possible to be treated in private hospitals, and public sectors would be able to give her treatment for free.

The lawyer added that he published Kawthar’s photo on Dar al-Istishfa facebook official page requesting help to find her parents, accompanied with pointing out to the Belgium charity agency that collected money using her story. That publication forced the charity agency to contact the pharmacist requesting deleting the publication and told him that money was safe and would pay it for Kawthar’s treatment when they come back from Belgium.

The lawyer confirmed that “The Poor”, the charity agency claimed that delaying Kawthar’s treatment was a result of inability of Turkish hospitals to treat the girls because of lack of expertise, which was denied by many Doctors confirming that treatment is available in Turkey with many experts who were able to treat the girl and limit the development of the disease. Doctors held the charity agency responsibility for delaying treatment and risking Kawthar’s life.

Medical source in Turkey confirmed to Zaman Alwasl that Kawthar is now under the care of the Turkish government and she is looked after and treated in Turkish hospital in Ankara, after the personal recommendations the the Minister of Health in Turkey.

In a relevant content, many activists confirmed to Zaman Alwasl that Kawthar’s story is not the first and would not be the last case of human trafficking and using people’s disease to collect money, under the recent status of mess and lack of monitoring for charity agencies which collect money for Syrian wounded and patients inside Syria and abroad.