HATAY, Turkey
Three-year-old Syrian girl Fatma, whose face is totally burned after a barrel bomb strike, will receive treatment at Mustafa Kemal University (MKU) Medical Faculty Hospital in southern Hatay province of Turkey, hospital officials said Tuesday.
Having lost her fingers in one of her hands and had her face burned seven months ago at an attack by the regime in Syria, Fatma Husen El Ali and her family took refuge in Hatay’s Reyhanli district.
Examining Fatma, Mustafa Ozkan of MKU Medical Faculty Hospital Plastic Surgery Department told Anadolu Agency correspondent on Tuesday that the hospital would undertake the wounded minor's treatment.
"Fatma will have two or three operations. We will address the tissue loss in her face and hair. After the operations Fatma's face will be like before", he said.
Her father Husen Mahmut El Ali thanked everyone involved for his daughter's treatment.
"Being in Turkey gives us in comfort. We are looking forward to the day when my daughter will recover. People are taking care of us; may Allah be pleased with them all. We thank Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the Turkish people. You have always been our brothers,” he said.
Provincial health officials said Fatma’s examination was over and she would have multiple surgeries on unspecified dates.
The civil war rages on in Syria, leaving death and ruin in its wake. Nearly 220,000 people have died and millions have been displaced.
Turkey, which shares a 900-km border with Syria, have accepted more than 1.7 million Syrians, according to the UN's refugee agency, with more people coming in because of ongoing bloodshed in the war-torn country.
Over the past two weeks, over 20,000 Syrian refugees fleeing clashes in the Syrian town of Tal Abyad have entered Turkey’s Sanliurfa province through the Akcakale border crossing.
