Insects 'were feeding on her flesh'

Dubai: Hanan, diagnosed with a congenital mental condition, was found two years ago in the shack with insects feeding on her flesh.

Today she lives in a daycare special needs centre that adopted her and where she has underwent intensive treatment.

"Although I miss her a lot, I am glad that she has been taken away from this place. Anybody who knew her before would be surprised by how much her health has improved," says her elder sister Huda.

She said Hanan is today stronger to handle her anaemic and epileptic conditions, and to deal with her mental and physical disability.

"We found her in a place covered with dirt and she could neither move or talk as a consequence of the seizures that reoccurred many times a day," said Nadia Al Sayegh, General Manager of Senses, the centre.

Hanan was born with "frontal encephalocele," a defect which causes cerebral and skull abnormalities resulting in, among other things, developmental delay, mental and growth retardation, uneven gait, or seizures.

Hanan did not receive any treatment or care throughout the 14 years she lived with her family.