Bengali ‘tree’ girl, refused further hospital treatment

The Bengali girl doing the rounds on social media for her rare ailment commonly known as ‘tree man syndrome’ now has her treatments cancelled, as the father fears a cure is improbable if not impossible.

Surgeons had operated on Sahana Khatun last month and scalped away some of the tree-bark-like growths she had developed from an extreme case of epidermodysplasia verruciformisa or more commonly known as ‘tree man syndrome’.

The 10-year-old is said to be the first female in the world to suffer from the said condition and had been treated for free  at the Dhaka Medical College hospital.

Albeit doctors had declared the first surgery a success, but according to Khatun’s father, Mohammad Shahjahan the surgery only made her condition worse and wanted to spare her from further procedures.

“They removed the bark-like growths and they grew again more thick and strong. I am scared. They said my daughter needed another 8-10 operations. But what’s the guarantee that she will be cured after that,” he told AFP.

Head of the hospital’s burns and plastic surgery unit, Samanta Lal Sen said he had wanted to keep Khatun at the hospital for further procedures but her father refused.

“He left with his daughter, complaining there was no progress. We asked them to stay a few more weeks for treatment,” Sen told AFP.

Fewer than half a dozen people are known to suffer from the syndrome.

“I had to remain at her side without going to work. I didn’t have any money to feed her properly. She’s the only family I’ve got left and I don’t want to see her sadly sitting in a hospital bed,” the father further added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017