Muktamoni going home tomorrow

Muktamoni, the twelve-year-old girl from Satkhira who has undergone multiple surgical interventions at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) due to a tumour in her blood vessels on the right hand, is going home tomorrow morning, nearly six months after her stay at the hospital.

Muktamoni drew media and people’s attention with her abnormally swollen right arm which resembled a beehive.

Talking to The Daily Star this evening,  Muktamoni expressed her wish to meet her relatives, neighbours and especially her ailing grandmother.

Her father is still concerned as Muktamoni has some tumours left in her chest and hand, she might need to go through more surgery, doctors said.

Meanwhile, Dr Samanta Lal Sen, national coordinator of burn unit, said they will allow Muktamoni to visit her ancestral home for three weeks but the treatment is a continuous process and she has to go through it.

A 11-member medical board at a meeting on August 8 decided to operate on 12-year-old Muktamoni as a biopsy result showed the existence of the tumour.

On August 5, DMCH doctors conducted the biopsy on Muktamoni, who has been afflicted by the disease mainly in her right arm, the condition leading to her arm swelling up like a bee hive.

When Muktamoni was three years old, her parents observed a small swelling in her chest. After a few days, marble-like protrusions appeared underneath her left armpit.

Thus began a round of treatment that has continued till this very day.