Refugees: Elaf's critical health condition has no support

Reporting by Faris Al Rifai; Translation by Yusra Ahmed

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Elaf, a-7-year-old Syrian baby, has head deformity because of cerebral hydrocele and a lumbar spinal meningeal lump. Her head has extra amount of fluid, which caused her head enlargement, and caused deformity to her face, even limited her ability to close her eyes.

She went through many operation to reduce the amount of fluid, and had an instrument fixed, but she needed follow up, which was too costly and over the ability of United Nation Higher Commission for refugees “UNHCR” to afford, which led to abandon her treatment, Elaf’s father told Zaman al-Wasl.

“My baby was born via caesarean section, she needed to stay in an incubator for 5 days. We noticed that her head was abnormally large, when we consulted a paediatric in Irbid city, he told us of her condition, which did not convince the Gynaecologist who followed my wife’s condition during pregnancy” the father started story.

The father explained that they needed to operate Elaf after confirming the diagnosis and install an instrument to suck fluids and drain the lumbar lump that risked her of paralysis.

The instrument stopped working after two months, and Elaf needed to go throw another operation to fix the problem. “A month later, the instrument caused complications and infections, we had to treat her in hospitals for 10 days, and we needed to change the instrument, but it was expensive and we could not afford for it” the father sadly told Zaman al-Wasl.

The father got help from “al-Oun” organisation, which is responsible for treatment and operations for Syrian refugees in coordination with the Higher Commission for Refugees “UNHCR” and the baby was referred to the University Hospital in Amman, where she was diagnosed of meningitis and ulceration.

“Doctors and al-Oun refused to operate my daughter before she healed from meningitis for her benefit, she was treated for 12 days, then she was referred to operation to take the instrument off and install another one, but shockingly UNHCR refused to cover the cost of operation without giving us any reason ” the father told Zaman al-Wasl.

The father managed to get support from people and “Thabit charity team” and collected JOD. 2000 for the operation, which was done during Zaman al-Wasl’s interview with him

But Elaf would need another JOD. 4500, he did not know how to afford them, therefore he decided to rely on God’s mercy. “it is easier for me if Elaf died in hospital than in my arms while I am helpless.”