Docs hopeful of Shahana's recovery

Doctors performed a successful surgery on Shahana Khatun, possibly the country's first female with “tree-man syndrome”, at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday.

Physicians at the DMCH Burn Unit conducted the operation from 12:30pm to 2:00pm, Samanta Lal Sen, national coordinator of the burn services, told The Daily Star.

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He hoped the 10-year-old patient might not need a second surgery.

Headed by burn and plastic surgery unit chief Abul Kalam Azad, a six-member medical board is treating Shahana for free.

Daughter of hard-up farmer Shahjahan Mia of Netrakona, Shahana had prickly heat rashes on her face when she was only one year old. By the time she turned six, those began to grow and spread in other parts of her body.

Two years later, rashes grew on her ears and right knee. Shahjahan took her to a homeopath who prescribed the schoolgirl medicines for a month, but her condition remained unchanged.

He got his daughter admitted to the DMCH on January 28 after knowing that treatment at the hospital would be free.