Activists have launched “Journey of Hope”, a project to treat children suffering from burns in both Turkey and Syrian, starting with the treatment of 4 out of the listed 24 cases as a first stage.
The project leader, activist Mohamed Ismail, said that the idea emerged after multiple visits by his team to children suffering from burns and burn scars as a window of hope for these children, who were isolated from their peers because of their appearance.
After over two years of calling on organizations and relief bodies to lend a helping hand to treat the wounds and scars of these children, Ismail was able to reach an agreement with both Bell for Bell Association and World Help to support the project.
Ismail explained that the first stage of the project will be the treatment of 4 children, with 3 of them – Hamam Sahari from Gaziantep, Abdullah al-Ahmed from Adana, and Mahmoud al-Hussein from Rihaniyah — have already been transferred to Istanbul. After strenuous efforts due to the closure of the border, Fatima Hantoush, the fourth child, was finally transferred from Syria to Turkey.
The four children are undergoing the first stage of treatment in Istanbul, with the supervision of Journey of Hope and a delegation for World Help, specifically sent to follow up the treatment of children.
According to Ismail, the criteria for selecting cases for the treatment depends on the level of damage and the degrees of the burns. The treatment will include cosmetic surgery for the eyes, eyelids, face, hands, ears, and hair. The operations and treatments will be carried by competent Turkish doctors.
The total cost of these operations differ from one child to another. However, Help Donia, an international organization founded in 2016 and working on educational support, medical care and drinking water supply, will be paying all the expenses of the treatment to the Medical Hospital.
While the number of child burn victims in Syria is estimated to be in the thousands, there are no specific statistics on the issue, and the lack of specialized hospitals inside Syria that outside regime control present a different challenge to these children. Only Atma Hospital on the Syrian-Turkish border, provides the essential treatment but only to people with 20% or less burns, while transferring the more serious case to specialized Turkish hospitals in Adana, Ankara, Izmir, and Istanbul.
Zaman Al Wasl
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