Saira finally on healing path after facial surgery

Greater Noida: A gaping hole in the face of 12-year-old Sairabano doesn't exist any more.
Following a surgery at Jaypee Hospital, the girl from Dankaur, who was maimed by an 11,000-watt high-tension power cable that fell on her, has got a second lease of life.
Now that the surgery that has covered the hole where her nose was is behind them, the doctors will work on evening out the facial skin and on reviving her vision.
Sairabano's mother, Nafeesa, was visibly overjoyed by the progress on the medical front but was unable to overcome the pain of having had to wait for over three years for the government to pay attantion. It was only after a TOI report in December last year that Samajwadi Party functionary Ashu Malik had called on her family on behalf of the UP government and offered financial aid for her treatment. After a cash payment of Rs 50,000, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had announced that the entire cost of the girl's treatment would be borne by the government.
Offers to help Saira also poured in from TOI readers, who suggested that a fund be set up and exhorted the government to draw up a compensation package for the maimed girl.
Saira told TOI on Tuesday that following the accident she was actually praying to God for her death. "My family members, especially my mother fought against all odds to keep me alive. The hole in my face was not letting me lead a normal life."
In the facial surgery conducted in phases, doctors initially grafted the skin around her eye socket in the first stage of the treatment. The hole was covered in phases in the course of a series of surgeries. The next step will be to recover her vision. At the time of admission to the hospital, Saira was totally blind and her face was in a shambles. Her upper and lower eyelids were reconstructed using skin grafting procedure in which skin from her cheeks was used. Grafting of the nose was done in three stages. Doctors said she was out of danger with all her vital parameters stable at the moment.
SP's Ashu Malik confirmed that he had called the family on Tuesday. "I have reiterated the state government's offer of bearing the cost of the treatment."