Milka set to take her first step

Dubai: The mother of an Ethiopian child born with severe congenital deformities has described the recent medical care given to her daughter in the UAE as a "miracle".

Three-year-old Milka Gebru, born in Addis Ababa with congenital deformities in both her legs, rendering her unable to walk, underwent specialist treatment in Al Ain last week, following the intervention of a family friend.

Million Shiferaw - Milka's sister's fiancé - says he was determined to locate treatment in the UAE, after travelling to Dubai through his work as an importer. Dubai-based paediatric orthopaedic surgeon, Dr Marc Sinclair of the Dubai Bone and Joint Centre agreed to help, saying that it became his "responsibility" when he learnt of her condition.

According to Dr Sinclair, Milka has a club-foot on her right leg and her left leg has an extremely rare condition where it develops without a fibula. As a result, she has only been able to walk on her knees, the scars clearly visible.

"As a surgeon, I felt as though it was something that needed to be done to help her walk, as it is treatable. The family was not able to pay the Dh200,000 or so that it would cost, so we had to step in," Dr Sinclair said of the operation which took place at the Oasis Hospital in Al Ain.

According to the family, Milka's father died in a car accident when she was only one year old, leaving her mother, Alemtsehay Hunde, to care for their seven children, but unable to secure proper treatment for her youngest child. Speaking in her native Amharic, Hunde told Gulf News she was overwhelmed by the help the family has received.

Her daughter looked on from her hospital bed, one leg in a pink cast and another in the external-fixture, applied to the bone and attached with wires and pins, which will aid the correction over the duration of her treatment.

"I didn't think this would ever happen. It is a miracle," she told Gulf News. "We have been trying to find a way to get help for Milka, but I never expected such help from people."

According to Oasis' president and CEO David Printy, the operation was funded from the hospital's charity budget and the family were able to stay with Milka in a hospital suite while she recovered. "The case was just so compelling, as this young girl has never walked and we felt that we had to find a way to do something," Printy said. "We have to thank the Abu Dhabi Health Authority for giving special dispensation for Dr Sinclair to perform the operation in Al Ain, as well as the Department of Immigration in Al Ain for facilitating the family's entry to the UAE."

A week on from her operation, Milka is due to be released from hospital, but will remain in the UAE for at least two months to continue her treatment.

"We really didn't expect anything, but when we approached Dr Sinclair he gave us hope," Shiferaw, 28, told Gulf News. "My fiancée and I were supposed to be getting married this month back home in Ethiopia, but we decided to postpone so that we could get Milka the help that she needs."

Learning to walk at three

On the same day of Milka's surgery, another three-year-old underwent an operation at the Oasis Hospital to correct the condition which has also prevented her from walking properly.

Dua' was born with abnormally short tendons, forcing her to learn to walk on her toes, which was corrected through an operation made possible by Oasis Hospital.

Sitting in the hospital's majlis with three generations of the Sudanese family, including her proud father and grandfather, Dua' appeared unfazed by her recent operation, despite the bright pink casts on both her legs.

"She used to walk on her tiptoes, but when she played with other children she would easily fall down, because she couldn't balance," said her father Abdul Mutaal Sayeed Ahmad, who has worked in the Al Ain police force for ten years.

"We hope that now, after the surgery Dua' will be able to go to school like other children."

Last May, the Oasis Hospital became the second hospital in the Middle East to join Cure, a US, faith-based non-governmental organisation, founded in 1998 to "bring first world healthcare to those in need." According to Oasis CEO David Printy, plans for Cure's new paediatric cardiac centre in Bethlehem, Palestine, were finalised last week.