Burn Patient Working in Hospital
From Sheila Wolfson, Interplast coordinator:
Mamta has been an indispensable help to us while we’ve been working at the New Disha Hospital and Interplast Surgical Outreach Center here in Dehradun. Whenever we need just about anything, Mamta is there for us. She actually lives at the hospital and has practically become a part of our hosts’ (Dr. Yogi Aeron and Dr. Kush Aeron) family.
In addition to being our host and working with our surgeons on many of our cases, Dr. Yogi runs his own private clinic and is one or Interplast’s Surgical Outreach Center directors. He is an extremely caring man who wants to provide medical attention to the poor people in his country. He is supported by Interplast to perform free surgeries for the poor during the year, when our team is not here.
Mamta is one of his outreach center patients and he has performed several reconstructive facial surgeries on her. Dr. Kush told me her story. When Mamta was just an infant, she fell off her bed and rolled into a “chula” (a clay pot filled with burning wood). She was burned and blistered all over her face and did not receive proper care at the hospital where she first received treatment. She continued to suffer from her burns and never had the resources to receive more care. Although the timing of everything isn’t quite clear, Mamta and her brother eventually moved to Dehradun and met Dr. Yogi. He was so taken with Mamta and her condition that he decided to employ both her and her brother in the hospital. He has performed several “outreach surgeries” on her, the latest being only a month ago. Her entire face has now been reconstructed. Mamta is pictured her with her face bandaged, standing with our two coordinators/translators. The bandages are there to keep pressure on her cheeks to help shape her face. She will need to wear the mask for another year. Despite her condition and the fact she hasn’t seen her family in two years, she could not be more pleasant. We are privileged to have her assist us.
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