Han Ximin

    Ximhan@126.com

    A 3-YEAR-OLD Sri Lankan boy is recovering well at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital after a two-month treatment.

    Under the care of the hospital, Dulan Nintharu, who suffered from a rare disease, is able to urinate and walk like a normal person, and in the coming two months, he could live like a normal person also.

    On a sunny afternoon yesterday, Nintharu rested on a hospital bed with a mischievous smile, while his parents, Dinesh Ranil Askoa and Sujani Samarasinghe, watched over him.

    The parents, who speak Sinhalese and only a little English, repeatedly said “Good!” to express their gratitude for the care and service that the hospital had offered in the past months.

    Nintharu was born with multiple deformed organs. He had two sets of genitals and two anuses. He couldn’t urinate or go to the bathroom normally like other children do.

    Because of the limited availability of medical care in Sri Lanka, Nintharu’s situation wasn’t effectively treated in the first two years of his life.

    “The surgeons and nurses are excellent and I am 100 percent satisfied with the hospital and grateful for those who offered help to our family,” the father said in an interview yesterday.

    The hospital provided the family the only suite on the eighth floor, which has a separate room. The treatment might last for about eight months, doctors said.

    As Nintharu had to go through several surgeries, he was isolated in the room out of concern he might develop an infection. He can only watch TV and play with his parents.

    “What I want to do now is to have a friend to play with outside and study with at school in the future,” he said through his father’s interpretation.

    The family got the chance to get treatment for him in Shenzhen in September 2014, when a local charity foundation introduced Nintharu’s situation to Yao Xiaoming, a Shenzhen eye doctor who attended an activity there. (Continued on P3)

    Shenzhen Children’s Hospital agreed to accept Nintharu and Shenzhen Hongfa Temple Charity Fund offered all the expenses for Nintharu’s family in Shenzhen.

    “Dulan’s case is rare and after thorough checks and rounds of discussions, our medical team had a final solution: multiple surgeries jointly conducted by the orthopedics, urinary and forensic surgery departments,” said Li Shoulin, a doctor at the hospital.

    To relieve the pain, the surgeries, which could be completed in three to five years, were shortened and conducted in half a year.

    Nintharu has befriended nurses at the ward and learned simple Chinese.

    “For the surgeries and recovery, we are meticulous at every step,” Deng Zhimei, a nurse of the hospital, said.