Muhammad Ahmed. PHOTO: MUDASER KAZI/EXPRESS
KARACHI: A student allegedly tortured at a cadet college in Larkana has finally left for the United States for complex airway reconstruction surgery.
Cadet Ahmed Hussain, accompanied by his father, Muhammad Rashid Mashori, and a family friend, will undergo surgery either in the last week of February or the first week of March.
Hussain would be admitted to the Children’s Hospital Medical Centre in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 15 where he will be under the care of Dr Michael Rutter, who is the director of clinical research at the hospital’s pediatric Otolaryngology division (head and neck surgery).
Student left bedridden, mute after 'beating by staff at cadet college'
The final decision for surgery will, however, be taken on February 21, according to a letter sent to the family by the hospital.
The length of Hussain’s stay can be up to four months, depending on how the child responds to the treatment.
The Aga Khan University Hospital, where he was under treatment, issued a certificate allowing the child to travel.
Hussain, 14, was left critically injured after being subjected to torture on August 10 last year in the boarding school.
The incident was highlighted by the local media in November last year, after which the Sindh chief minister took action and moved to form a medical board which confirmed that the child had actually been tortured and that he should be sent to the US for resurrection surgery.
“I thank Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who announced Rs50 million for the treatment of my child,” remarked Mashori before flying to Lahore from where the three of them would take a flight to Cincinnati with stops in Manchester and New York.
Cadet ‘torture’: Officials swing into action after media spotlight on the case
“I want to request everyone to pray for my son’s early recovery,” he told The Express Tribune before leaving for the airport.
However, he was nervous for being unable to communicate with the hospital personnel in the US because of his inability to communicate in English.
“I really do not know who to ask for help if I face any problem abroad,” the worried father said.
The CM, it is learnt, also sent a message of ‘good luck’ to the child and assured that the entire expenditure of the surgery will be borne by the government.
“I hope to God my son recovers after the surgery … I pray he is able to speak once again … I wish no child suffers such a calamity,” the child’s father said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 14th, 2017.
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